Lived Experience
Real lives. Real experiences. Deeper understanding.
Lived Experience sits at the heart of WovenAware.
This space centres real lives – identity, family, relationships, and everyday experiences that shape how people understand themselves and the world around them, particularly within Deaf experiences and communication. These experiences bring awareness beyond theory, offering insight grounded in connection and personal meaning.
They support a deeper understanding of Deaf identity, communication, and access in everyday life.
Lived experience gives awareness its human depth.
Lived experience is where awareness becomes human.
Why Lived Experience Matters
Understanding systems and ideas is important, but awareness becomes meaningful when it is connected to real experience.
Lived experience reveals:
How communication shapes connection
How identity develops through lived experience
How Deaf and hearing families navigate different environments
How belonging is formed
How everyday moments influence understanding
These experiences provide deeper insight into access, identity, and human connection.
These insights often reflect how Deaf people experience communication, identity, and belonging in everyday environments.
Exploring Lived Experience
Lived Experience brings together four interconnected areas of reflection and understanding.
Together, these explore different aspects of lived experience – family, identity, memory, and personal journeys.
These areas are explored through:
Deaf Parenting
Family life, communication, and identity within a Deaf-led household and family life.
Exploring the realities of raising children, navigating systems, and understanding family experience.
CODA
Identity and belonging across Deaf and hearing worlds.
Reflecting on the experiences of growing up within Deaf families and navigating different communication environments.
Personal Anchor
Moments, meaning, and identity.
Exploring the experiences that shape identity, memory, and personal meaning.
Tattoo Stories
Stories written in ink.
Exploring the meaning behind tattoos that mark moments of growth, healing, identity, and lived experience.
A Space for Understanding
Lived Experience is not about explanation alone.
It is about listening, recognising, and understanding.
By sharing real experiences, this space supports deeper awareness of identity, connection, and the realities of Deaf and hearing lives.
Through lived experience, understanding grows.
A Deaf-Led Perspective
Lived Experience is grounded in Deaf identity, family life, and lived experience. It reflects the diversity of experience within Deaf-led environments while encouraging broader understanding across communities.
An Invitation to Explore
You are invited to explore these experiences, reflect on their meaning, and recognise how lived experience shapes awareness and understanding.