linermodern.blogg.se

Rather than recognizing the huge responsibility that comes with that, they took the worst possible route. And for what purpose? What possible redeeming feature does that have? ABC Family KNOWS that there are millions of very impressionable kids who are totally hooked on this show. Of all the possible plots that ABC Family could have chosen, they had to pick this one. A recent episode glamorized gratuitous teen sex. Rather than focusing on issues that are important to the Deaf community, ABC Family has chosen to bring in sexual innuendoes, drug references, and now, outright sex between teens. Thus, no matter how much research they do, how much consulting they do, they will still always be writing the script from an outsider's (hearing) perspective.ĪBC Family has dropped the ball a third time by taking a show that can do so much good for promoting Deaf awareness rather than "sensationalizing/dramatizing" it. Hearing writers don't know what it is like to be a Deaf person. Instead, the writers are writing about a (Deaf) way of life that, to them, is from the outside looking in. There are many talented and beautiful culturally Deaf actresses that ABC Family could have hired.ĪBC Family dropped the ball a second time by not having any culturally Deaf script writers. Thus, some of the things about her character are not things that are normal for a Deaf person who grew up in the Deaf world - such as her ability to lipread flawlessly, her constant sim-com (talking and signing at the same time), and her signing being jerky and awkward at times. She is a hearing person that is playing the part of a Deaf character. "I'm glad I can cross over." - There is no crossing over.

Leclerc portrays herself as an ambassador of the Deaf community - "I feel comfortable in the deaf world I feel comfortable in the hearing world," Leclerc said. The only reason she knew any ASL before the show was because she took it in high school and that was because, In her own words, "I was very bad at Spanish." Leclerc has to take voice lessons in order to "sound Deaf" on the show. Katie Leclerc is an actress that only recently started losing some of her hearing due to Meniere's Disease. The Deaf community had an opportunity to have a show they could relate to and the hearing community would have a show that promoted understanding and awareness of the Deaf world.ĪBC Family first dropped the ball by hiring an actress who is not Deaf. As a "family" channel, ABC Family (and their parent company, The Walt Disney Company) have a responsibility to live up to their name - by creating programming that is "family friendly."Īs a Deaf ASL teacher, I was pretty excited when ABC Family's announced a new show that featured Deaf characters.