Marlee Matlin - Deaf Actress, Cultural Icon

Watching the film Through Deaf Eyes was eye opening to Deaf history and culture. The film was a great introduction and snapshot of what it is like to be Deaf and to live in not only the Deaf world but to also be a part of the hearing world. Watching the film and learning the history and the achievements that the Deaf have overcome was inspiring. It was also depressing to see the kind of oppression that Deaf people have faced and within their own community. One of the biggest things that I took away from the movie was that Deaf people can do anything they wish to do, besides hear. Seeing the way they stood up and demanded a Deaf president of Gallaudet University and that helping to influence the introduction of the Americans with Disabilities Act was inspiring. Whenever I would think of what it would be like to be Deaf, I thought of the immediate loses that a Deaf person would have and that just isn’t the way to look at it.

Before watching the movie the “The Hammer” I didn’t know what to expect. I had never seen a deaf movie before and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to understand the movie completely. Watching the movie wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be, and I enjoyed it. The best part about it was that it’s based on the true story about Matthew “The Hammer” Hamill.

For my American Sign Language class I needed to attend some type of Deaf event. The event I chose was the showing of Love is Never Silent on October 22nd from 6-8pm in Wiley Hall at the University of Minnesota. Love is Never Silent is a very touching and powerful television movie from 1985. This movie can help the hearing world get a look at what it is like to have family members that are Deaf. This movie was also probably an inspiration for Deaf people by how relatable it could be to their life. The movie follows Margaret, a child of Deaf parents, through childhood until she is a grown adult. During the stages of Margaret’s life depicted through the movie I learned new information about Deaf culture and was able to make

“Through Deaf Eyes” was a documentary that really opened my eyes and allowed me to understand just a small fraction of what it may be like for a Deaf person to live in a hearing world. The first thing that really stuck with me was the fact that the film was all silent. The part that made it easy for me to understand was the fact that there was closed captioning. All throughout the film, all participants, both Deaf and hearing, were signing at what seemed like lightning speed. If it were not for the closed captioning, there was no way I would be able to catch up and really engage in the film. Then it hit me: this must be how Deaf people feel if the situation was reversed. I always used to get irritated

In the movie they show many people who share their stories of oppression due to the fact that they are either deaf or hard of hearing. They discuss that they don't want to be seen as people who need help or want sympathy because being deaf is not a disability. In the movie they state just some of the misconceptions that people have of deaf people. One being that they can’t do the same jobs as hearing people because its hard for them and theyre going to need assistance; that is not true; it’s sad that people believe that just because they can’t hear that they’re anything less than intelligent in a certain field.

The placement of a prop or altering the way the light shines on a scene, however insignificant they may seem, are ways that the director can select and control meaning in a film. Such is in The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939), specifically during the scene where Dorothy (Judy Galand) has been locked in the Wicked Witch of the West's (Margaret Hamilton) castle room by herself; many aspects of mise-en-scene are noticeable. Many of the elements of the scene she is in contribute to her state and other aspects of the movie. The setting and props of the film all seem to centralize to where she is and how she got there. The light focus' just on Dorothy but also amplifies the intensity of the situation she is in. The behavior of

In mainstream American society, we tend to approach deafness as a defect. Helen Keller is alleged to have said, "Blindness cuts people off from things; deafness cuts people off from people." (rnib.org) This seems a very accurate description of what Keller's world must have been. We as hearing people tend to pity deaf people, or, if they succeed in the hearing world, admire them for overcoming a severe handicap. We tend to look at signing as an inferior substitute for "real" communication. We assume that all deaf people will try to lip-read and we applaud deaf people who use their voices to show us how far they have come from the grips of their disability. Given this climate, many hearing people are surprised, as I was at

The guessing based on visual clues was what I wanted, and it indicated that hearing people cannot tell if a person is deaf or not by looking at them. Knowing that Jeremy Joseph and CJ Jones were not famous, I decided to add Marlee Matlin and Sean Beardy to the survey as both are well-known deaf actors. In doing so, I believed that the vast majority would know that they are both deaf, but I was incorrect in this assumption. Only 72.4% (165/228) of all people who participated knew Marlee Matlin was deaf and 73.1% (155/212) of all hearing people knew Marlee Matlin was deaf. This number was much lower than expected as Marlee Matlin is by far the most iconic deaf actor in Hollywood. The findings were more dismal for Sean Berdy. 46% (104/228) of all participants thought he was hearing and 42% (96/228) thought he was deaf. The results were disheartening because I thought most people knew that they were deaf and they were supposed to be more of a control for people's knowledge, unfortunately this was not the case. My research has once again indicated that hearing people cannot tell if a person is deaf or not by just looking at them.

Nathie Marbury was a Black Deaf role model as well as an educator. Helping form a community for the Black Deaf. Marbury taught both the hearing and the deaf throughout her lifetime.She contributed to the deaf and hearing worlds through her work in teaching and various other accomplishments.

Heather Whitestone has contributed so much to deaf history. In 1995 Heather made history by being crowned the first deaf Miss America. She has raised awareness for Deaf and hard of hearing people all over the United States. She has written three books, been part of the National Council on Disability, promoted awareness for deaf issues, and ,of course, been the first deaf woman to win the Miss America title.

First, this book allowed me to see the negative way in which deaf people were perceived. This book is not old by any means, and I was taken aback by the way deaf children were perceived by not only others in the community, but often times by their own parents as well. The term

The book A Loss for Words by Lou Ann Walker is a biography about Lou Ann. Her parents are deaf and she and her sister are hearing. The book describes the troubles and embarrassment she felt and had while growing up. She loved her parents dearly but often felt embarrassed, or infuriated about comments people would make to her about her parents. Lou Ann exclaims that “their world is deaf, their deaf culture, their deaf friends, and their own sign language it is something separate, something I can never really know, but I am intimate with.”(2) Lou Ann was both speaking and she could also sign. She felt it hard to fit into one culture. She had a love for her parents and the

Leah Katz-Hernandez is one of the most influential and well-known receptionist working at the White House today. Ms. Hernandez’s story is inspiring as she has not only witness history working for President Obama, she has likewise made history as a pioneer. Throughout her years, Leah Katz-Hernandez has devoted herself to the study of American government and ways Congress can help youths with disabilities. Ms. Hernandez is 28 years old and was born deaf; despite how society perceives what she could accomplish, she has surpassed all expectations and has become an astonishing voice for the deaf community. In spite of the fact that, being the first deaf receptionist in the White House has given her a media spotlight, Leah Hernandez has made considerable progress in the realm of governmental issues and has helped numerous of people with disabilities register to vote, access their rights, and transition into a world that connects the hearing and deaf community through the workforce.

In fact, Marlee Matlin is a deaf actress who can speak and she does not play the character of Sarah as having an ability to speak. Her role in the film shows a person with a disability can only succeed as a janitor or nail technician. Her attitude displays anger which is clear in the scene when she throws pots in the school kitchen, leading viewers to think that she has no self-control or self-esteem because of her hearing disability. The principal, who is her employer, thinks Sarah cannot learn because of her disability and publicly demeans her and this is displayed as the center of attention at the gathering of school

3 out of every 1,000 children in the U.S. are born Deaf or later on become deaf. It’s may seem like a small chance, but it’s often an unfortunate occurrence. However, most Deaf and deaf people have proven that anything is possible if you believe in yourself and try hard enough to achieve your goal. One of such is Miss America of 1995, a woman who significantly contributed to culture and history.