2012-2013 Due: 9/10/12

Directions: You will read the folling chapter from "For Hearing People ONly" book (written by Matthew S. Moore & Linda Levitan). You will post you "journal." You will write a paragraph putting down your thoughts/ideas/opinions about this chapter. How does it make you feel? What did you already know? What was new to you? Imagine yourself ... ? This sections needs to be approximately 8 - 10 sentences. After you do this post you will then read your peer students post. You will then reply to their post ... do not just say "nice job," or "I agree;" you can say that but tell me why! These reply's to your peers should be between 3 and 5 sentences.

OK, here is Journal/Blog number 1:

 

 

 

358 FOR HEARING PEOPLE ONLY

Chapter 61

Are deaf people still stereotyped?

If so, how? What kind of

stereotypes are still popular?

A stereotype is an image cut from a pattern instead

of reality. It reflects more preconception than truth.  Here are some of the most common (Hearing) stereotypes of deaf people, including some. prevalent Hollywood stereotypes. (We have

already discussed "The Silent Bookworm" and "The Illiterate Dork.").

 

The Silent Sufferer: Deaf people are seen as solitary social outcasts, terribly alone, more alienated than hearing characters.  A particularly poignant embodiment of this view is the character of John Singer in Carson McCullers' classic novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. This has been made into a movie (with a hearing actor, Alan Arkin, playing the character), and, more recently, a Broadway play (with the brilliant ASL-Deaf actor Bruce Hlibok in the role). Although tragically isolated, Singer is such n attractive, sympathetic character and a good "listener" that hearing people pour out their troubles to him. He finds happiness and fluent communication (in ASL) only when he's with his friend/lover Antonopoulos, who's loutish and mentally unstable but also Deaf. After Antonopoulos dies in a mental institution, Singer commits suicide.

 

In reality, ASL-Deaf people are social creatures. We suspect that they are somewhat less susceptible to depression and suicide than oral-deaf and late-deafened people. We have

active social lives-visiting Deaf friends and inviting them over, participating in Deaf clubs and events. Hearing people often shun or patronize us because of the communications barrier, but rarely do they adopt us as spiritual mascots. John Singer is actually a symbol of alienated humanity. Deaf

people are ... people.

 

The Pathetic Waif/Emotional Basket Case: Popularized by Johnny Belinda (one movie version and two TV versions so far), and the more recent Breaking Through. Belinda and Laura, young, vulnerable, abused, languageless deaf women, are both victimized. Notably, both characters have been played by hearing actresses. In fairness, Johnny Belinda was the first major Hollywood movie (1948) to portray a deaf character and sign language in a positive light. Belinda's and Laura's stories are supposedly about empowerment. Both women are helpless and in trouble. Their being deaf and languageless adds tearjerker appeal to their plights.

 

Ironically, Breaking Through was based on a real-life situation:  the experience of a young, languageless Hispanic- American woman who escaped her abusive family in Los Angeles, where she had been treated essentially as a slave.  But the TV-movie version erased her ethnic identity, making her Caucasian, and nominally shifted the action to Florida. By the time the story reached the screen, much of the truth had

been squeezed out of it.

 

Phyllis Frelich portrayed a more true-to-life character, Janice Ryder, in Love is Never Silent (based on the first part of Joanne Greenberg's In This Sign): an exploited textile worker who is angry and embittered-but understandably so. It was a brilliant portrayal, and Frelich has played other strong, multi-dimensional Deaf women. The role of Sarah Norman in Children of a Lesser God was written for her by Mark Medoff.  One cannot imagine Frelich playing a Belinda. We will always wonder what a Deaf actress could have brought to the portrayal of Laura. . . ,

 

Super-Sleuth Who Can Read Lips Through Walls: Tess Kaufman, the character played by Marlee Matlin in Reasonable Doubts, has something of this heightened capability.  Communication is never a problem for her on the job. She has a signing partner. She interviews all kinds of unsavory characters,

never has to "fake it," and holds her own splendidly in court. Ironically, in real life, Matlin wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement, but was told that because she was deaf, she'd be confined to a desk job. She ended up switching careers.

 

Super-Deafie with Novelty Value: Deaf guest stars on prime-time TVprograms (e.g., Terrylene Sacchetti on Doogie Howser, M.D.) help the hearing regulars solve problems by using their ingenuity, imagination, and signing skills, while teaching them a valuable lesson or two, then exit. This is a

problem with sitcoms. Each installment brings in a new character whose involvement with the regulars lasts for exactly one or one-half hour. Terrylene's appearance (as a member of a Deaf gang) in several sequential episodes of Beauty and the Beast was an exception. Matlin's role as a mayor on Picket Fences was a breakthrough in that she made return appearances. (More, please.) In real life, hearing people who make friends with deaf people put aside time and energy to cultivate their friendship and learn to communicate. Of course, this doesn't jibe with the quick-bite sit-com style. Life is not served up in lO-minute segments between commercials, and problems aren't neatly resolved before the final credits.

 

Sleazy Card Peddlers: These characters prey on hearing people's stereotypical perceptions of the deaf. ("Oh, those poor deaf people. I'm glad to help out those who are less fortunate than me.") The hearing victim shells out a few, bucks for a manual-alphabet card that s/he won't use, or some trinket worth a few cents. Most deaf people are hardworking, honest taxpayers. They buy cars and houses, rent apartments, travel, and go to supermarkets and shopping malls just like everybody else. We don't know of any deaf people who financed their college educations by peddling (i.e., begging). They got scholarships or worked their way through. Most of us bitterly resent the negative stereotype

perpetrated by card-peddlers. 

 

A sidenote: As for the deaf Mexican immigrants liberated from the "bondage ring": many Deaf people in Mexico believe that peddling trinkets on the streets is preferable to doing nothing, since educational and career opportunities for deaf people there are severely limited. (Perhaps we should say" nonexistent. 1/) Those who came illegally to the U'S. were lured by promises of easy work, a good income, and better living conditions than they could hope for in Mexico. The way they were treated by their "customers" (who often gave them extra dollars for their trinkets), shopkeepers (who gave them free sandwiches and coffee before they started their comfortless days on the subways), and the city and government officials who provided for them after the ringleaders were arrested, tried, and convicted, says much for common sense and compassion. Most chose to stay in New York. What they wanted more than anything else was an opportunity to earn a decent living. None wanted to peddle anymore. 

 

The Incompetent Dum-Dum: Some intelligent hearing folks still believe that deaf people can't think, and treat them accordingly. Question: How many of us have been treated as though we were mentally retarded? Answer: a lot!

 

Exotic Alien: Deaf people are seen as exotic, weird, strange, alien, etc., not because of their personalities or characters, but simply because they're deaf.  Particularly ASL-Deaf.

 

Life's Loser: Deaf people are seen as pathetic, victimized, weak characters. There is a prevalent notion in Hearing culture that you're" nothing if you can't speak." According to this notion, to succeed, you must be able to speak well. Those who prefer not to use their voices and rely on ASL for everyday communication are labeled with all sorts of negative terms-"deaf-mute," etcetera.

 

Evil Deafie: To some hearing people, there is something sinister about deafness ... a holdover from the not-so-good old days when deaf people were considered accursed of God and were treated as outcasts (and still are, in some cultures).  Newspaper coverage of crimes committed by deaf people sometimes emphasizes the deaf aspect. Lou Ann Walker's intimate portrayal of a Deaf gang, the Nasty Homicides, in People Weekly was a stereotype-buster.

 

God's Victim: Conversely, some hearing people see us as "touched by God" or "special to God" in someway, by virtue of our "affliction."  This can be as insidious and patronizing view as the view that deaf people are cursed. 

 

Tabloid Tragedies: Tabloid newspapers are awfully fond of labeling deafness a "tragedy," and calling us "deaf-mutes."  , E.g., "Tragically, her son was born deaf." "Sadly, she was born with the same affliction." It's difficult to develop a positive self-image if everybody tells you you're "afflicted" and that your being deaf is a "tragedy." The real tragedy is that we are prevented from achieving our full potential because of prejudice.  In our struggle to gain rights, empowerment, and better education for all deaf people, the last thing we need is to be branded as walking tragedies!  Stereotypes are a problem for us when they are used to keep us "in place," to restrict our freedom, to curtail our ambitions, to reinforce low expectations, and to legitimize prejudice and negative misconceptions. Stereotypical thinking is a symptom of ignorance. Ignorance is the most devastating of all disabilities, but the most easily cured.