{"id":6173,"date":"2022-04-01T15:51:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=6173"},"modified":"2023-04-20T09:52:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T08:52:00","slug":"deaf-identity-and-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/deaf-identity-and-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaf identity and film"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-intro\">Seeing different identities in the media isn\u2019t just about representation, but self-identity too. Rachel Brown, who is deaf and was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss at age 11, explains this and discusses the barriers that still exist between cinema and the Deaf community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The actor Troy Kotsur, who is deaf and uses American Sign Language (ASL), has just won a Bafta and an Oscar for his role in CODA. We all want this to signal a shift in the relationship between disability and film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Watching CODA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This film deserves to be celebrated. It\u2019s a beautiful, authentic story and I can see why it attracted so much attention. Casting deaf actors with lived experience has, I think, been key to CODA\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignwide is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube is-style-primary wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CODA \u2014 Official Trailer | Apple TV+\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0pmfrE1YL4I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re given an intimate view of the family\u2019s life, which I found really engaging. Especially the moments of isolation. Deaf people can be cut out of everyday situations when we\u2019re not included in the communication. CODA shows this. It shows what it\u2019s like when you\u2019re tired, and you can\u2019t concentrate on lipreading and constantly adapting to engage with the hearing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One aspect of the film I struggled with are the moments that suggest deaf people can\u2019t enjoy music.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0pmfrE1YL4I\"><u>In one scene<\/u><\/a>, the family say that music isn\u2019t \u201csomething we can all do as a family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s important to recognise that deaf people do have a strong connection with music. You can appreciate the vibrations, the beat, the rhythm. At one point, the father puts his hand on his daughter\u2019s throat while she sings, feeling the vibrations. In those moments, CODA gets it right \u2013 highlighting that there is pleasure to be found in music and song, with or without hearing. That\u2019s the message I want people to take away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Personal experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I was diagnosed with hearing loss and fitted with bilateral hearing aids when I was 12-years-old. Like most teenagers, I just wanted to fit in. I struggled to come to terms with the fact I had progressive hearing loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It affected my sense of self. Even though I had a supportive family, this exploration of my deaf identity was a solitary experience. There wasn\u2019t a community of people I could connect with and I didn\u2019t feel represented or fully understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CODA portrays these tensions between the hearing and deaf communities. I know now that there aren\u2019t only two groups, but many types of deaf identity. But it\u2019s still possible to feel isolated, like you exist in-between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Building a deaf identity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>No one film can capture all the nuances of the lived experience of being deaf. Nor should we expect this. There are, however, some great films which have encouraged me to explore my deaf identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_Quiet_Place\">A Quiet Place<\/a>, for instance. Just wow. This film enabled me to reflect on my relationship with hearing loss. Growing up, I did everything I could to hide my hearing aids. But covering them up often creates feedback and a whistling sound. This would happen at school and attracted attention, it gave me a lot of anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In A Quiet Place, Regan (played by Millie Simmonds, a deaf actress) uses the feedback from her cochlear implant as a weapon. She is resourceful, independent and brave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If I\u2019d seen more films and characters like this growing up, would I have had more confidence? Could I have felt the pride and self-acceptance I feel now, earlier in my life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Breaking down barriers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve only spoken here about two films because, the reality is that I don\u2019t go to the cinema. It\u2019s not accessible for me. I\u2019d love to go and see movies, I\u2019d love to have a movie date night or go to the cinema with my family, but there are still barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally, I wait until I can watch a closed captions version at home. This might be years later, by which time the buzz has passed and I forgot I ever wanted to watch it. Captioned screenings are disappointingly rare. Weekday lunchtimes seem to be primetime for subtitled movies. I\u2019m not sure why, do they think deaf people don\u2019t have jobs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s great to have representation on screen but it\u2019s no good if there isn\u2019t accessibility off-screen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seeing different identities in the media isn\u2019t just about representation, but self-identity too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[189],"class_list":["post-6173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-rachel-brown"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6173"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=6173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}