In the past 1 year I have continued to learn about Deaf people and their lives. As much as I learnt from the Deaf people I met, I also made an effort to become versed with the Deaf in popular culture. So here are my top mentions.
Switched at birth (TV show): This TV show was a recommended watch on a Deaf community forum. It’s a story where one of the protagonists just happens to be deaf. As the deaf and hearing worlds come together, multiple deaf characters are introduced. Progressively many of the hearing characters pick up signing. As a beginner in sign language, this was a huge motivation to watch the show. In fact, the show has 1 whole episode done exclusively in ASL!
In the later seasons, the show started to feel more heavy on the teenage drama aspect of it. Also the plot started to feel forced with inclusion of other disabilities, black lives matter, LGBTQ etc. Overall, I liked season 1 and 2 but by the middle of season 3 I had lost interest and ended up fast forwarding through the rest of the episodes.
Show me a sign (Book): My niece came across this book at her school fair. We discussed it over the period of a few weeks in a book club format. This was the first book that I read by a deaf author, Ann Clare LeZotte. It was very intriguing to see the deaf protagonist communicate and think in sign language. We were amazed by how in-depth her conversations were and how deep her imagination ran. The book is based in the 1800’s in Martha’s vineyard where most of the population knows sign language and the deaf and hearing worlds are closely intertwined.
I would say the first half of the book is quite interesting but the second half fails to keep up with the build up of the first half. The end is like a rushed end to a toddler’s bedtime story and overall I would rate it around 3.8/5.
Deaf Utopia: A Memoir―and a Love Letter to a Way of Life (Book): Having followed Nyle Dimarco from the early days of Shreyas’s diagnosis, I was pretty excited to read Nyle’s autobiography. It had references to sign language and description of some signs which was interesting as a beginner signer. His family’s story is incredible and so is his mother’s commitment to raise her three deaf kids.
My biggest disappointment with this book was that it did not have much more to offer besides what I had already read and heard in the media about Nyle.
True Biz (Book): I picked up this book after it appeared in Reese’s Book Club. It has pretty much everything packed in together for hearing people to learn about the Deaf world. CODA, Deaf of Deaf, deaf born in hearing family, hearing interpreter married into a Deaf family and so on. The book is by a deaf author, Sara Novic. As a bonus it offers trivia about the deaf culture and history and has illustrations by a Deaf artist too.
Just like ‘Show me a sign’, I think the book started well and held together it’s plot up until the middle but lost it’s weight towards the end. There was too much build up but led up to nothing much.
CODA (Movie): My husband would tell me later that this movie was the first thing which came to his mind when Shreyas failed his newborn hearing screen. He had watched it barely a few days ago. In case you missed to hear about this movie on Netflix, it once again came into limelight when Troy Kotsur, a Deaf actor won an Oscar for the best actor in supporting role in 2022. This movie stars 3 Deaf actors but the story is from the perspective of a hearing person in the Deaf family. I heard from a friend who is an interpreter that her CODA friends related closely to some of the scenes in the movie.
There is more room for deaf talent and stories to be told in mainstream popular culture. I am still looking for books from the deaf authors or with deaf protagonists which can leave a lasting impression. On TV and big screen, while there have been some attempts, there is a scope for diverse and deep representation of the Deaf community.