Marlee Matlin Obstacles

After reading Deaf Again, I can imagine some points about deaf people’ lives. It is really hard when someone tries to fit into something but it is not for he or she. I realize that the words “Never mind,” or “It is not important” can hurt someone. Moreover, I extremely admire the author, Mark Drolsbaugh, and other Deaf people because they are very patient and they are not easy feel down like hearing people.

We live in a world that is bounded by cultural norms and stereotypes that affect anyone who looks, acts, or is even born different. Our society narrowed scope views Deaf people as less, uneducated, and unworthy for the opportunities abled people are innately handed. There is a lack of opportunities that Deaf people received based on their disability in terms of jobs and acceptance. The feeling of acceptance is one thing the hearing community has felt at least once, if not their entire life, however it is a feeling that may be unknown to the Deaf community.

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.

Hearing people do view being deaf as a misfortune, but that does not justify the way that they get treated by hearing people. I think it's horrible how they are viewed as unable. I would hate to imagine someone treating me like I'm not able because I'm Hispanic or because I'm gay. It would tear me apart and I'm sure most deaf people feel the same way. Audism needs to be a bigger issue among hearing people and they need to know that being deaf is not a handicap, deaf

People used to think that being Deaf was a sin and a major disability. I don’t really understand this view, as being Deaf is not a choice because a majority of the time, most people are born Deaf. Just because a person can’t hear, doesn’t mean there is something wrong with them. Deaf culture is so mesmerizing as their is such a deep connection within the community and they even have their own language. What people need to do is put themselves in the shoes of a Deaf person and imagine how difficult it must be being the “odd one out” all the time.

I laughed at the part of the movie where the deaf comedian was talking about an incident that he had while driving a car. A man was aggressively driving and beeping at the deaf man driving his car. When this man passed the deaf man, he said, “What are you deaf?” The deaf man who spoke and signed telling the story said he drove up to him and said, “Yes, I am deaf!” Although I laughed, it is offensive to the deaf individuals using the word deaf in such a negative way. People who are hard of hearing are people and should be esteemed as such.

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.

This book was mainly focused on looking at Deaf culture of today and comparing it to the culture of the past, and what kinds of struggles deaf people had to endure to get where they are today. The two authors of this book are deaf; one was deaf her whole life and the other became deaf as a child. In my opinion, that was a major contributing factor to why it was so interesting. The reader gets a chance to travel through the history of the Deaf through words from those who have experienced it. It also had a positive impact because the authors let the readers know in the introduction that they are deaf and a brief history of themselves, which I

This also discouraged some parents from enrolling their child because they did not want them to be away for such long periods of time. Now schools for the deaf are more common, and deaf children can attend mainstream public schools also; making it apparent that just because a child is deaf does not mean that they are dumb by any means.

Most of the resources I used were found on Galluadet’s website, so there are no stereotypes on there that aren’t accurate. The difference between the stereotype of a disability and an actual disability is that the stereotypes of a disability are what people believe to be true. Actual disabilities are observable facts, and what some would call ‘not politically correct’ (compared to the stereotypes) that are not based on the media. Some common stereotypes of people who are deaf include: they’re not as intelligent, all deaf people communicate by signing, their lives are completely different than those of hearing people’s, they all lip read, and all of them want to be part of the hearing culture. In actuality, hearing doesn’t correlate with intelligence, not every deaf person uses sign language, their lives are just like those of hearing people just slightly more limited, a lot of deaf people can’t lip read, and not all deaf people want to be part of the hearing culture.

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to PBS home video “Through Deaf Eyes,” there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing (Hott, Garey & et al., 2007) . Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are over ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents. Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, every region, and every economic class.” The

The movie "Love is Never Silent " consisted of a hearing child left alone with deaf parents when her younger hearing brother dies. This movie shows how she was her parents sole link to the hearing world. It also showed how her parents were looked at by the hearing world and how they looked at the hearing world. They had a certain distrust for the hearing. The daughter was ashamed to have deaf parents and to sign in front of hearing people because she didn't want to be different. Her

Deaf and hard of hearing people are just like us. They are not any different, but hears like us. There is some common misunderstanding, that is really annoying for Deaf and hard of hearing people. Those misunderstanding are can you understands us? Are you able to drive? Do you need a wheelchair? Can you read and write? Do deaf people have sex? Etc.…These kinds of questions annoyed deaf people the most. People do not realize that deaf people do not have as much as difficulty as normal folks thinks that they have. They can do almost everything and just as much no less. Sometime, they begged to be considered the same as hearing folks. They want to be equals, respected, and value just as much as hearing people. Sometime, we forgot to ask ourselves.

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript,“Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007) there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing. Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group,