Newly minted Oscar winner Rachel Shenton gave part of her speech Sunday night in sign language _ a shout-out to her film "The Silent Child."
Shenton _ who wrote and starred in the film _ shared the award for Best Live Action Short Film with her fiance, director Chris Overton.
The British actress accepted her award with both speech and sign language, which she said was her way of fulfilling a promise to the short's 6-year-old star Maisie Sly.
"I made a promise to our 6-year-old lead actress that I'd sign this speech. And my hands are shaking a little bit, so, I apologize. Thank you," Shenton said.
"Our movie is about a deaf child being born into a world of silence. It's not exaggerated or sensationalized for the movie, this is happening, millions of children all over the world live in silence and face communication barriers, and particularly, access to education."
Shenton also thanked the Academy for giving their cause a wider crowd.
"Deafness is a silent disability. You can't see it and it's not life-threatening, so I want to say the biggest of thank yous to the Academy for allowing us to put this in front of a mainstream audience," she said.
