No Ordinary Hero

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

Darrow’s article was easy to read and focused on the importance of how to teach deaf students. Although I enjoyed reading it, the writer lacked to inform how students with hearing losses can differ and how this can

Personally, I believe that the film was an example of responsible media pertaining to the communication disabilities presented. The characters were all realistic and

Could you picture yourself growing up as in a world where everyone treated you differently or thought that you were stupid just because you are unable to hear? Well Mark Drolsbaugh experienced that first hand. He explains his story of how he dealt with his hearing loss in his novel Deaf Again. The book begins with a small child who could hear just fine, but as the story progresses he becomes hard of hearing and eventually deaf. All this happens with in a couple of years. Mark realized that he had a hearing problem in the first grade when he was presenting a toy for show and tell. Another student asked him a question about his item, but he was so far away Mark was unable to hear him. Mark's respond was a blank stare at the boy. The

I thought that No Ordinary Hero was a pretty good movie and had a good message behind it. It showed that deaf people are just as capable as hearing people and can do anything they desire. In the movie, it showed Tony/Superdeafy interviewing a deaf motorcycle rider and she told her story of how people didn't believe she could do it, but she persevered and now lives her dream. I think that all people, deaf or hearing, should learn from her inspirational story. I did think that the ending was a little cheesy and didn't really fit in the movie well. It just seemed like it could have done without Superdeafy getting actual powers when in reality, by being voted into politics and living his dream gave him metaphorical power.

When I finished reading the book I realized that I had just learned way more than I had been expecting. Just reading the first chapter was enough for me to be awestruck by the intricacies of the Deaf culture, but as I continued reading I realized that the depth and many levels of social structure are so detailed that being able to fully understand them would be simply impossible. I was very impressed with the amount of respect that the word Deaf conveys among the Deaf community. The first chapter to me seemed to be the most interesting. The many stories about Deaf children meeting friends and interacting shed a new light on the way that Deaf people learn to communicate. The word Deaf itself is

In a typical hero’s myth paradigm, the hero begins in what is known as the Ordinary World where they are living a normal life, but there is something that does not seem right to them. In Seger’s essay, in the first stage of the hero’s myth, the hero is presented to the viewers in normal surroundings where he/she is a lesser version of himself/herself, doing normal things before the adventure begins. The main purpose of introducing the Hero in the Ordinary World is to create a vivid contrast with the strange new world that he/she is about to enter. In Finding Nemo, Marlin is living in an anemone with his son, Nemo, under the deep, blue sea--unaware of the adventure that awaits them. It’s the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, and yet it is also very

How do you think society treats people with disabilities? I was treated differently in sixth grade when I was bullied for being “fat.” I wasn’t bullied physically but it was emotional and mental bullying. This jerk always called me fat even though his best friend was way bigger than me. This scarred me permanently. Society doesn't accept things that are slightly different than what they believe is normal.

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,

Prejudice and Stereotyping is one of the main causes in disability discrimination. Some people tend to believe disabled people have limitations and less potential beyond the disability itself.

Person with a disability are often viewed as less than human. While few people would be comfortable coming right out and saying this, the dehumanization of disabled people is a constant thread throughout the tapestry of our society. It’s even evident in the way people speak about people with a disability. I hope one day everyone can see them as

I find my hearing impairment as one of my main obstacles in life because of the way I cope with it. I feel like it’s hard to remain connected with my surroundings. For instance, when the bell rings and everyone jump out of their seats, I immediately assumed that we had a fire drill due to the lack of being able to hear the bell. Another way of it being an obstacle is when I’m having a conversation with someone and sometimes I’m not able to tell which tone they’re using or if I’m not able to grasp what they’re saying with their mouth

I chose to preview the film Rain Man (1988) because I have had limited experience with disabilities until recently. The film is about a man named Raymond who has Autism. His brother, Charlie never knew he had a brother because when he was three his dad put Raymond in a care facility, it wasn’t until their dad passed away that he found out about Raymond. Raymond required special care even though he could talk and was very smart, he needed a strict schedule. Charlie did not understand this and took Raymond on a road trip, it was difficult for both of them. I was amazed by Raymond, he had an exceptional memory and was extremely talented with numbers. Raymond was very repetitive doing the same things at the same times each day, this seemed to comfort him, when things did not go that way he became increasingly nervous and upset (Rain Man, 1988).

I was really shocked that he didn’t have his own caseworker. Most adults that I know that have a developmental disability of some sort have a caseworker to help them transition through the different stages in their life. I felt that this movie did a somewhat good job of portraying the developmental disability of mental retardation.

There are many people that do not understand what it means when a person has a disability, and tend to make inaccurate judgements and assumptions about the person. One way for people to gain a better understanding of a disability is to do research, and find out for themselves what the disability is and the challenges it presents. A good way to do this is to watch films and read books, as they can provide in-depth insight to how a person with a disability lives, behaves, and thinks. I have seen the movie Rain Man many times in my life, but I have seen it in a whole new perspective now that I have an interest in special education. It is about a man finding out he has a brother named Raymond, who has autism and savant syndrome. This movie is a great example of a person with this disability because the main character accurately depicted someone with special needs, the challenges that go along with autism and savant syndrome, and the audience can better understand the disability and learn not to define a person by their disability.