Exploring Deafness and Identity through Cinema

What’s the difference between the deaf and the hearing? There is only one thing that separates the two, the ability to hear. In the Movie see what I’m saying four talented deaf individuals try everything they can to increase the fame and deaf awareness. Delivering a joke is all about timing, without timing the joke will not hit, and the audience will be silent. CJ Jones was born hearing, to two deaf parents, he became deaf at the age of seven after being diagnosed with spinal meningitis. Since both of Jones parents were already deaf having a deaf child made them even more excited because they already had a better connection with him. His parents could teach him what it is to be Deaf, help him find an identify for himself, teach him ASL,

TL Forsberg was born hard of hearing, she was the only person in her family, so she started to use hearing aid to help her communicate to her family. TL learned both American Sign language and oralism while she was growing up. Being able to do both talk and sign TL felt like she had no place, she didn’t realty fit in the deaf world because her signing was not strong enough and neither in the hearing world because it was extremely hard to always have to lip read. This instantly reminded me of straight beak from the book birds of a different feature. TL and the main character “straight beak” struggle to find their identity and figure out where they belong. So with not knowing about the deaf world, she never discovered herself, find her identity. I do not believe TL ever experienced audism, just like any other aspiring performer TL had to work non-stop around the clock to get recognized but, for TL it paid off when she got a record deal. She worked hard, put in months of work on the CD but, it didn’t wok out because they both had different views on the music. Through the time she was recording TL was becoming deafer, she was almost full deaf. She wanted to get back in the deaf community, therefore she started to sing more and even sign her music for others to see. TL stated to sign more and found her identity within the deaf

DeMayo was born deaf into a all hearing family, his family never learned or understood deaf culture. So Robert did receive some aspect od audims from his family because they never though eh would amount to much. Robert wants more than anything to become an actor but, like the others could never get a steady job. After going through much pain and heartache Robert received AIDS. Losing everything DeMayo became homeless with nothing. Even with all the pain and suffering he knew who he was, he had found is identity and loved his language. Robert also received audism from the people at the standup bar, they didn’t know how to accommodate him for his standup and he was lost due to never getting to see the crowds