Deafness in fiction?

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RandomHearie

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For anyone who doesn't mind answering...

I know there are already works of fiction out there that feature d/Deaf characters or portray Deaf culture. I assume a large number of them are inaccurate or offensive. Am I correct in making that assumption?

If so, what kinds of inaccuracies do you see?

Are there any common patterns in media, like... I don't know what they would be for you, but is there anything equivalent to, for instance, that thing where physically disabled characters always seem to end up cured or dead?

And what would you rather see? Are there any examples of works that did it right?
 
I remember a deaf girl in RL Stine's Halloween Party.
I was really into RL Stine books as a teenager..
I have almost all of the Fear Street books (not goosebump) at home.
It's been a while since I've read the book though, so I can't remember very many examples of her deafness showing. The only thing I can remember right now is that the main male character was talking to her, and then he shouts something to her as she's walking away, only to remember that she is deaf and cannot hear him unless she can see his mouth. No mention of deaf accent or her reminding him that she needs to see his mouth to talk.

I've been looking into stories and media involving deaf or ASL users, but I see the same tropes over and over:
1. hearie falls in love with deafie, or wants to become friends with a deaf person, and hearie uses learning ASL from deafie as an excuse to spend time with him or her. Despite hearie having the ASL ability of a 4 year old, somehow they are magically in love or are best of friends. I guess they may had been texting or Instant Messaging off camera.
2. deaf person overcomes deafness with the help of a hearie. Deaf person becomes master lip-reader, loses deaf accent or suddenly understands and learns the concept of speech etc etc.
3. hearing person goes deaf and everyone is sad. The whole story becomes about how life is so difficult and terrible without sound.

I'm interested in drawing a comic about ASL or Deaf culture, but I don't want to make another "hearing boy falls in love with cute deaf girl!" story. I think it's overdone. Also the whole "ooh I am a hearing boy so I should protect that poor deaf girl" thing.. ick. Girls are not babies. Deaf people are not babies. Neither need to be protected or patronized like that.

I wish more deaf characters were portrayed as leaders or role-models. Like a story about an employee with a deaf boss, or a story about a deaf mayor, deaf governor, deaf surgeon, deaf superhero, deaf fencer, deaf soccer captain, deaf genius.... etc.
 
I wish more deaf characters were portrayed as leaders or role-models. Like a story about an employee with a deaf boss, or a story about a deaf mayor, deaf governor, deaf surgeon, deaf superhero, deaf fencer, deaf soccer captain, deaf genius.... etc.

I agree.
 
There was an episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" that involved a girl who was deaf. It was a great episode! The girl and a boy who teased her got kidnapped by these alien-like creatures and put in a big warehouse. They were put in a big room with other kids so the aliens could watch them (like a zoo). The aliens kept all the children in there by high frequency waves at the exits...when they discovered that that was what was keeping them there, the girl who was deaf was able to break free and let all of the kids out...I miss that show and being a 90s kid...
 
i wish more deaf people be portrayed as hard headed rebels, drug dealers, porn stars, race car mechanics, extra ordinary hunters, ruthless investigators, bored out of their heads cash registars/nighttime pole dancers/cocaine addict, animal trainers gone bad, teaching dogs to hunt audist and what not, murderers of bad school teachers, necrophilliacs, necromanics in the 2nd century (yes deaf as rescued by a blind witch (now how do that communicate??)...stuff like that, ooh what about a deaf mad scienceist bent on release air-borne germ warfare to make all population go deaf in bid for world domination of the Deaf culture??
something like that would be hilirious...

fuck normal role models, too boring and limited, role models are Dead, better yet, make them as zombies lol
 
The American film, The Orphan, featured a deaf character and it played well. Beyond Silence, a film from Germany features strong deaf roles and honestly acted (highly recommended too). Of course, going back several years, Love is Never Silent was an honest protrayal, also wonderful. And Your Name is Jonah, etc....they're out there....

Laura
 
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i think my post need more attentions, hence a re-post! lol
i wish more deaf people be portrayed as hard headed rebels, drug dealers, porn stars, race car mechanics, extra ordinary hunters, ruthless investigators, bored out of their heads cash registars/nighttime pole dancers/cocaine addict, animal trainers gone bad, teaching dogs to hunt audist and what not, murderers of bad school teachers, necrophilliacs, necromanics in the 2nd century (yes deaf as rescued by a blind witch (now how do that communicate??)...stuff like that, ooh what about a deaf mad scienceist bent on release air-borne germ warfare to make all population go deaf in bid for world domination of the Deaf culture??
something like that would be hilirious...

fuck normal role models, too boring and limited, role models are Dead, better yet, make them as zombies lol
 
Grummer said:
i think my post need more attentions, hence a re-post! lol
i wish more deaf people be portrayed as hard headed rebels, drug dealers, porn stars, race car mechanics, extra ordinary hunters, ruthless investigators, bored out of their heads cash registars/nighttime pole dancers/cocaine addict, animal trainers gone bad, teaching dogs to hunt audist and what not, murderers of bad school teachers, necrophilliacs, necromanics in the 2nd century (yes deaf as rescued by a blind witch (now how do that communicate??)...stuff like that, ooh what about a deaf mad scienceist bent on release air-borne germ warfare to make all population go deaf in bid for world domination of the Deaf culture??
something like that would be hilirious...

fuck normal role models, too boring and limited, role models are Dead, better yet, make them as zombies lol
Click to expand...

Your post ought to be a given, that every deaf person would just like to see deaf characters portrayed as just as flawed and interesting as any other character.
 
Grummer said:
i think my post need more attentions, hence a re-post! lol
i wish more deaf people be portrayed as hard headed rebels, drug dealers, porn stars, race car mechanics, extra ordinary hunters, ruthless investigators, bored out of their heads cash registars/nighttime pole dancers/cocaine addict, animal trainers gone bad, teaching dogs to hunt audist and what not, murderers of bad school teachers, necrophilliacs, necromanics in the 2nd century (yes deaf as rescued by a blind witch (now how do that communicate??)...stuff like that, ooh what about a deaf mad scienceist bent on release air-borne germ warfare to make all population go deaf in bid for world domination of the Deaf culture??
something like that would be hilirious...

fuck normal role models, too boring and limited, role models are Dead, better yet, make them as zombies lol
Click to expand...

Leave it to Grummer to make some of the best posts ever!....:laugh2:
 
You'd think Stallone would make another Rambo, except he's deaf. It's possible, yes? All those explosions and his hearing is intact all these years...really?

Laura
 
Grummer said:
i wish more deaf people be portrayed as hard headed rebels, drug dealers, porn stars .....
Click to expand...

Ask... And you shall receive! :giggle:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF7RYlhBqSQ]HANDS SOLO: The Deaf Porn Star With the Midas Touch - YouTube[/ame]
 
now this short you tube is what we need to see more often, not some tready, 'deaf stories' shit we get so too often at Deaf short film festivals, you know I wanna make a film about killing a um *BEEP* think id keep that one as a secret for now...i want to stay original...
 
we should have the deaf version of the 'voice' the HAND lol

sorry hand solo...

maybe we're rename it as "the singing fingers"? (not mispelled either singing not signing~~! to point at the singing of song with hands...erm with fingers...
come think of it, its likely better that way too, how dellicately skilled a song singing can be get with hyper skills with fleeting fingers?!!

cheers
now im gonna havva a $5 Beer, which is so damn hard to find in this country, even its made here in this country - a rare hand made variety, its da best ive come across Im HAVING it before it dissappears...
 
i wish had more in soap opera's not only deaf but true represention of other things blindness Downs syndrome aswel as deaf....
we have soap called coranation street you may get it in states not sure...they had deaf lady in it some years ago for couple of weeks she did minimal bsl that shame
 
caz12 said:
i wish had more in soap opera's not only deaf but true represention of other things blindness Downs syndrome aswel as deaf....
we have soap called coranation street you may get it in states not sure...they had deaf lady in it some years ago for couple of weeks she did minimal bsl that shame
Click to expand...

No one would watch that. People watch the soaps for the stories, not to see every conceivable disabled and ethnic group represented. Who would watch that, it's a joke. If it’s a good story with strong characters, it might happen. “Life Goes On” featured actors with Downs Syndrome. I don’t watch shows looking for a hearing impaired person, I look for characters that I can identify with.

Laura
 
Lau2046 said:
No one would watch that. People watch the soaps for the stories, not to see every conceivable disabled and ethnic group represented. Who would watch that, it's a joke. If it’s a good story with strong characters, it might happen. “Life Goes On” featured actors with Downs Syndrome. I don’t watch shows looking for a hearing impaired person, I look for characters that I can identify with.
Click to expand...
I can understand that... not to mention, no station wants to be accused of being racist or for taking advantage of differently-abled people. It can be tricky to feature minority actors because viewers can be offended by anything.

On an unrelated note, I've been contemplating working on a story featuring a deaf boss and a hearing employee, but I can't decide what industry they should be in. I thought maybe the deaf boss could be a taxi dispatcher, a truck driving company manager, or an airport tarmac manager, but I realized pretty quickly that these are all manual labor jobs. So I'm also considering maybe my deaf boss can be in IT or data analysis.... but again, it just plays on the generalization that deaf people make great tech nerds...

I probably just need to spend more time understanding Deaf culture, but I wanted to share what I had in mind ;)
 
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shimo said:
I can understand that... not to mention, no station wants to be accused of being racist or for taking advantage of differently-abled people. It can be tricky to feature minority actors because viewers can be offended by anything.

On an unrelated note, I've been contemplating working on a story featuring a deaf boss and a hearing employee, but I can't decide what industry they should be in. I thought maybe the deaf boss could be a taxi dispatcher, a truck driving company manager, or an airport tarmac manager, but I realized pretty quickly that these are all manual labor jobs. So I'm also considering maybe my deaf boss can be in IT or data analysis.... but again, it just plays on the generalization that deaf people make great tech nerds...

I probably just need to spend more time understanding Deaf culture, but I wanted to share what I had in mind ;)
Click to expand...
Yeah, it can be a tricky topic to figure out.

There are a lot of deaf people in all kinds of fields. Some may be unexpected, but then become expected once you realize how normal or how not unusual it is. :)

I have friends who have jobs that most people don't even expect deaf people to have jobs at. Deaf pizza delivery men/women? Deaf UPS employee? Deaf bank teller? Deaf Walmart/Target cashier? Deaf Blockbuster manager? Deaf pool company owner/worker? Deaf clothes store self-working employee? Yep, seen them all. :)
 
Lau2046 said:
The American film, The Orphan, featured a deaf character and it played well. Beyond Silence, a film from Germany features strong deaf roles and honestly acted (highly recommended too). Of course, going back several years, Love is Never Silent was an honest protrayal, also wonderful. And Your Name is Jonah, etc....they're out there....

Laura
Click to expand...

I remember seeing the orphan on TV one day on lifetime i think it was lol. That was actually a pretty damn good movie for what it was. I definitely felt they portrayed the deaf chracter as a really strong person even though she was like 5 or 6 haha. She was adorable though, and it was actually a pretty intense movie

Kelsey
 
shimo said:
On an unrelated note, I've been contemplating working on a story featuring a deaf boss and a hearing employee, but I can't decide what industry they should be in.
Click to expand...

I remember reading about a man that was very talented for his skills working with repairing airplanes. He was just so good at his job, he held a high paying position and his employers bent over backwards to give him whatever he needed. Being deaf, he was able to work around the incredible noise level without issues, unlike the other coworkers that had to wear ear muffs and had trouble communicating with each other on the job.



Laura
 
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