Nyle Dimarco, what an inspirational video and individual, not only because of his deafness, but he chased his dream and succeeded! He went on the Tyra Banks’ modeling show, America’s Next Top Model, and won! He mentioned in the video that he had a strategy to win before going on the show and then a friend told him everyone already loves you-just be you. I think this applies to everyone in the Deaf community, as he mentioned in the video. If Deaf people have confidence and are themselves, they can go places and do things that they have never done before. For example-get jobs and roles that are currently held by hearing people but that were made for a deaf person. This video shows somewhat a day in the life of Nyle Dimarco-using video telephone …show more content…
I enjoyed this video along with the others because he stressed being you and not letting deafness provide any type of hindrance in your life and dreams. At the beginning of the video, Dimarco and his parents share a story from his childhood about a family gathering. Dimarco and other family members go riding their bikes and somehow he gets separated and lost. He expressed frustration because he could not hear or talk and was lost. All he could do was sit and wait on his family to find him. That must have been so maddening to his mother also, expressing that he was an adventurous child and not knowing where he could be. Nyle Dimarco told us about challenges he faced, but I picked up on him mentioning more positive aspects, like his fantastic family support system and technology designed for deaf people by deaf people. I consider that a great quality-to have a condition that could potentially have a negative impact on one’s life and simply accept that this is my life and I choose not to let my deafness define my dreams and …show more content…
I watched him when he was on America’s Next Top Model and rooted for him all the way. Then, to see him go on to succeed and be on Dancing With the Stars was absolutely amazing, inspiring and tear jerking every week. I do not know anyone directly that is deaf, however I do know a distant family member of a friend I have that are deaf. He was born completely deaf and has used ASL (American Sign Language) all of his life. All of my friend’s family is fluent in sign to some extent, even if just the basics. I have always been fascinated by sign language and was exposed to it at a young age, through a deaf ministry at church and my previously mentioned friend who taught me a few signs and some of the alphabet. I have seen my friend’s family show great patience with this family member. He is a distant relative, so they do not see him a lot and are not fluent in ASL simply because they are not around him very often. However, when everyone does meet up for family gatherings or holidays-they are all very patient and kind towards him. They make it a point to accommodate him in conversations and activities. I think this is because they have a family member first hand who is deaf and know about Deaf culture and how important it is to include them. This family member’s immediate family is fluent in ASL so I would say that he copes well with daily life. He attended Gallaudet University and is now a professor at a local college teaching Deaf
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.
According to Deaf Person of the Month (DeafPeople.com), Mark Drolsbaugh grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, just four blocks away from Pennsylvania School for the Deaf’s old Mt. Airy campus. He is a writer, essayist and advocate. His life changed dramatically as we can see through Deaf
In Mark Drolsbaugh’s book, Deaf Again, he is able to bring the reader through his life struggles and triumphs as a member of the Deaf community. There were three major themes that reoccurred throughout his life. These themes consist of communication barriers, a negative image on deafness, and limitations on social experiences. An example of communication barriers starts in the beginning with his birth. From the beginning, he talked about how his parents struggled to communicate with the doctors when the epidural was not administered properly or when the anesthesia machine was not working. This communication barrier caused his mother to go through a natural birth and almost lose her life because she could not tell the doctors that something was wrong. Under the circumstances that Drolsbaugh’s grandparents did whatever they could to preserve his hearing this left him with feelings that deafness is bad. This notion fostered a negative self-image. Due to Drolsbaugh’s loss of hearing he had a hard time making meaningful social connections. This affected him greatly in his dating life. As he talked about in the book he dated a girl who was hearing but could sign for three years until they broke up. He said how he tried to hold onto that relationship because he knew that there are not many girls that he knew at the time that could sign and be able to communicate with him fully. This affected him socially with friends as well.
There are numerous facts concerning the Deaf culture that I am not aware of, and a few of those elements have been made known. One of the new facts that surprised me was that approximately 90 percent of Deaf people are married to other Deaf people. This goes along with them being a tight-knit community. Another interesting piece of information I have learned is that I am to focus on a signer’s face, instead of their hands, while they are signing. Once I began to consider the expressions he or she would be showing while signing, and how one should pay attention while talking to another, it made perfect sense.
By embracing the Deaf culture, he found his career and his family, and he is a much happier person living for himself and not trying to fit in with what he previously viewed as “normal”.
Deaf people living in a hearing world have certainly made their mark in the hearing community. Deaf people can do anything that hearing people can do. The band shown in the film called “Beethoven’s Nightmare “caused quite a stir in our class. I think that we were simply amazed that deaf musicians could play so well. By showing the audience this experience, it provides hearing viewers with the knowledge that this type of event does occur within the deaf community and that the deaf can appreciate
Bob Hiltermann is a famous deaf storyteller, actor, comic, and musician. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany and became deaf at the age of four due to spinal meningitis. His family assumed that he was slow and it wasn’t until he was ten years old that they finally realized he was deaf. When Bob turned eighteen, he attended Gallaudet University. While attending Gallaudet he learned American Sign Language, which would eventually lead him to become a confident and successful signer. Bob grew up in a family of classical musicians and this shaped his love for music. Despite being deaf he has become an accomplished musician himself and is the drummer for a famous all deaf band named Beethoven’s Nightmare. He has also experienced a very successful career as an actor and has starred in many award winning documentary films, TV, stage productions, soaps, and feature films. Bob has also helped create and star in an educational sign language series called “Shut up and Sign” (Hiltermann, 2016).
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
For my major project, I decided to challenge myself by being deaf for one day and experience what a deaf person is living every single day and get a better understanding of their living situation. It seems as an easy challenge to do, but it turns out that it wasn’t.
The documentary, Through Deaf Eyes, is a two hour film that focuses on all things related to Deaf life over the span of 200 years. The documentary includes interviews of people who have made a significant impact on the Deaf community, including actress Marlee Matlin and various people who work or either have worked at deaf schools such as Gallaudet University. Before watching this documentary or even before signing up for this ASL course I knew a little bit about Deaf culture through my own personal experience. After watching this documentary I have learned so many different interesting facts and now I have a whole new perspective on the Deaf culture.
When Mark told Linda that he would except the job as dorm supervisor at PSD he started his first step towards Deaf culture and never looked back. This was his first step to what he called Deaf Pride. It took him a while to understand the importance of ASL. Attending Gallaudet was his first full- blown reaction to Deaf culture. The president down to the students, were all deaf. After taking the time to join into the Deaf culture Mark struggled, but to him it became a blessing from above and throughout his experiences he made a lot of spiritual references, which I believe made him a
In this book, Deaf in America, by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries, the two authors wrote stories, jokes, performances, and experiences of Deaf people. They also wrote Deaf culture and Deaf people’s lives from various angles. This book is great navigator of Deaf world for hearing people and even Deaf people as me. There are several factors attracting reader. To begin with, I could learn about backgrounds of deaf people and hearing people. Authors wrote about a Deaf boy who was born into a deaf family. Until he discovered that a girl playmate in neighborhood was “hearing”, he didn’t notice about “Others”. Authors
This documentary does an excellent job of advocating for the acknowledgment of people who are deaf within society. This is shown through not only the brilliantly written and performed poems of the students but also in the basic, everyday struggles each of them face, such as the desire to fit in or be valued by those around them. Deafness is not a specific to any gender, race, culture, or religion. The struggles many people who are deaf go through are relatable to all and
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
I have watched three movies about the deaf culture, each has helped me to understand the Deaf World a little better.