Deaf in the Media

Several people have been asking me lately what my opinions were about deaf in tv shows/movies in the past year.

Marlee Matlin made an appearance on the show "Dancing with the Stars" in 2008 then Donald Trump's tv show "Celebrity Apprentice" in early 2010. Even through, she already been a celebrity for a long time as she won awards for her acting role in the movie, "Children of a Lesser God" (great movie!) back in late 1980's, but I feel that her recent appearances on those two shows have grabbed the attention of the world towards deafness.

It seems like deafness have been spreading awareness via media more often lately. I am very glad about that, as I think people should have an idea of the deaf community.

I recently saw a movie on Lifetime Channel called "Listen to Your Heart" (2010). It was about a hearing male who is a singer falling in love with a deaf girl. In this movie, the deaf girl only used ASL with no voice. In the beginning of the singer & deaf girl's relationship, there had been similar beginning of my relationship with my hearing boyfriend regarding communication. They started out with writing. Eventually, the singer learned some sign language. The only difference was that I use my voice, and the girl didn't. I like this concept of the hearing-and-deaf relationship in that movie since I am living that experience right now. Otherwise, the representation of the deaf girl didn't impress me too much since that wasn't who I was, however, there are deaf people out there that is like her. That's just one example of the variety of deaf people that exist in the world.

You may see more variety on ABC Family channel's show "Switched at Birth". This show is about two high school girls who were switched by accident at the time of their births at the hospital, which one of the girl had been deaf. I was worried when this show first came out that it would be a dramatic show for teens. I was wrong. This show is good for family audience in my opinion. In this show, the deaf girl attends a deaf institute. She had a male deaf best friend who has deaf parents. There was variety of deaf people in the show. The deaf girl is displayed on the show to be in both worlds of hearing and deaf. She attends a school for the deaf, but she lives at home with hearing family. She is mainstreamed like I am. The show also have been nailing on the deaf culture. In every show, there is an aspect of many challenges that deaf people face daily in their lives. For example, I'm going to use the deaf-and-hearing relationship again, the deaf male best friend is in a relationship with a hearing girl. There are frustrations of communication, understanding, respecting the boundaries of deaf person, etc. in the relationship which was clearly emphasized on the tv show. I am very impressed with "Switched at Birth" so far, and it is one of my favorite shows to watch every week. It also is the closest thing I have right now to the deaf world (Miss you Rochester!).

I suggest that everybody should watch "Switched at Birth" to learn the deaf culture & it does have a lot teaching methods of how to communicate with deaf people. I like that the show is entertaining people but at same time it has hidden messages related to deaf culture. I strongly feel that this show is spreading the awareness of deafness since it is on television every week on a popular channel.

This past October (2011), there was a movie released called "The Hammer". It is a biographical movie about first deaf wrestler to win National Collegiate Wrestling Championship. The deaf wrestler, Matt Hamill is also known for fighting professionally for UFC before retiring. Also, guess what? The deaf wrestler is an alumni of my college - RIT! Go RIT Tigers! The movie was filmed at RIT campus as well several other locations. This is a very deaf based movie. The part of his time at RIT shows EXACTLY what the deaf community at RIT was like. If you want a glimpse of my RIT life, just watch the movie.

Overall, the movie was based on a deaf person which I was able to relate to. Our deaf experiences are very much similar. Prior to attending RIT, Matt Hamill's communication method included lip reading & speaking with his voice. He learned more ASL once he was at RIT. I had the same experience which I definitely learned most of my sign language skills at RIT. We attended RIT so we have the same understanding of the deaf community in Rochester. He came from a hearing family, which I did too. We both are a lot alike in these area of experiences. I highly recommend that everyone watch the movie "The Hammer". You can purchase DVD copies in stores or online right now!

I am very proud to see deaf in the media to spread awareness & teach people about deafness/deaf culture after all there are a million deaf people existing in the world.