This week I read a review of a show called Switched at Birth, a TV drama on ABC Family the shows a story of a deaf girl and a hearing girl being switched at birth and then realizing it 16 years later. The review was written by a man who is Deaf and has his PHD in Deaf Studies. This man makes his list of reason why he may like or hate the show. The first reason was the skimming over the concept of a cochlear implant. In the show, it was brought up in the first episode, then the cultural aspect of Deaf Pride came up and they have not brought up the concept of a CI again. This man’s next issue is the fact that the actress, Katie Leclerc, playing the main Deaf girl is not “actually” deaf. Leclerc actually has BPPV which is an inner ear disorder, one I also suffer from, that causes you to be partially or full deaf at the time of the attack, but it is not a constant thing. He says her sign language does not show the smoothness of a “deaf from birth” person or the fact that she had to learn how to stimulate deaf speech. The next thing he has an issue with is the SimCon which is the use of speech while signing. This is very understandable since in deaf culture there is no need to use your voice while signing, also since voice is used a lot of the time, the sign language is not correct or full grammar. Next is because there is a lack of deaf adults paired with the “friendzoneing” of the two deaf males by the main hearing character. These issues and more are the main reasons why he believes that this show may do more harm than good when it comes to the Deaf culture and community.
Oct 302016