Switched at Birth

I'm thrilled to announce Guest Blogger, Sarika D. Mehta! Her first post, on Switched at Birth, explores the portrayal of the Deaf Community and Deaf Culture. Sarika obtained her Master's in Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focused on the education rights of Deaf children as English Language Learners. She currently resides in Portland, Oregaon, and is a producer for KBOO Community Radio. Welcome, Sarika!
____________________________________________________________________

Special thanks to Dr. Casey George-Jackson for inviting me to throw some thoughts on her great blog!

I’ve come to have a new appreciation for ABC Family (really, we should call it ABC Unfortunate Teenager). Now, before you write me off completely (and I couldn’t blame you), you should know that I’m a gigantic fan of the Harry Potter series and they tend to show these movie marathons say, every weekend. You should also know that I’ve been involved with the Deaf* Community for a long time and I’m about to return to school to take on a Sign Language Interpreting Certification program. That being said, I was very curious about the new teen drama, Switched at Birth. You can view the pilot here:





So first off, oh my god - a Hard of Hearing girl plays the lead!! How awesome! And furthermore, an awesome Deaf actor plays her bff!! But more on that later....

This show is about two teenage girls who were, well, switched at birth. The two families involved took home each others’ babies and never knew until a high school science class lesson talking about hereditary traits. As if the prospect of two daughters being raised by not their biological parents was not enough, they also threw in the fact that one family is ridiculously wealthy (including Lea Thompson playing the mother!) and raising the “rebellious, artistic teenager”, Bay Kennish (played by Vanessa Marano). The wealthy family also has a younger son, Toby, and both children attend what appears to be a rather snooty, over-privileged private school. The father was a baseball star and now owns a chain of car washes, while the mother is a stay-at-home mom who seems preoccupied with organizing charity events and the opinions of other people.

Meanwhile the other family is a single mother who lives with her own mother, raising her (not) daughter, Daphne Vasquez, in a presumably rough neighborhood. The single mother character (portrayed by Constance Marie) is half Puerto Rican, works as a hairdresser, and apparently had a drinking problem in the past. Her (not) daughter was deafened as a toddler due to meningitis and I won’t give more plot away. Her mother signs while she speaks English and there’s been reference to her knowledge of Spanish as well. Daphne/Bay’s father is not in the picture - which is another story arc that led to some craziness. As I excitedly mentioned before, the actress who plays Daphne, Katie Leclerc, is Hard of Hearing and appears to be an up and coming star in the world of Deaf performers!

So now that you’re caught up to speed (i.e. everything that happened in the pilot episode), I should give some commentary. One disclaimer: I’m only going to focus my opinions on the issue of Deafness in this show - I know there are several issues and plot lines, but I’m only going to focus on this one.

I’m surprisingly impressed by this show! Now admittedly, I kept my standards rather low given it is ABC Family, especially after Outsourced came out on NBC (check out our podcast discussing the role of Asian and Pacific Americans in pop culture!). However, this show has done a decent job of exploring the complex life of most teens in America and especially a Deaf teen: Her mother, Regina, is hearing, but chose to raise and empower her Daphne with Deaf Culture, American Sign Language and Deaf Education. Regina’s best friend, Melody (played by Oscar-winning, Marlee Matlin), is Deaf, as is her son, Emmett (played by Deaf actor, Sean Berdy), who happens to also be Daphne’s best friend. When Daphne and Emmett communicate, they communicate in American Sign Language. She’ll “interpret” for Hearing people as necessary. It’s very exciting to see Daphne’s character as the lead, with a complex identity and difficulty in forming a relationship with Bay, the other switched daughter.

In only the first several episodes of the show, they’ve already talked about issues concerning Deaf and Hearing people dating, Deaf musicians, hearing aids, cochlear implants versus Deaf Culture and American Sign Language, the dependence of lipreading, and the role of interpreters and the act of interpreting. They’ve also managed to weave issues of ethnic identity in a classist society. They subtitle portions of signing, even if the signing is on top of the speech. Of course they have to thrown in a fair share of teen drama so that everyone else will like it, too.

I will say that the miraculous ability for the Deaf characters to understand 100% of the lipreading is a bit ridiculous and feeding into an unfortunate myth that Hearing people have. Lipreading is an art, not a skill, and oftentimes involves a lot of gap-filling and assumptions, so there is much room for error.

Yes, the show could do a lot better, but considering it’s ABC Family and only the first season, I’m actually pretty pleased with it. I am curious what the Deaf Community thinks as well as the Hearing Community. Check out the clips and weigh in with your own thoughts!

____________________________________________________________________
* Deaf (capital D) refers to a cultural perspective, appreciating "Deaf" as a cultural-linguistic minority, whereas deaf (lower-case d) refers to pathology, the inability to hear.

Glee - Theatricality

Theatricality featured music and costumes inspired by Lady Gaga--all entertaining and fun to watch--but the sub-plot dealt with the subject of bullying. The source of the bullying came from two school jocks, who threaten both Kurt and Finn. Playing into stereotypes of school bullying, the two football players threaten to beat Kurt up because, as they explain to him, "We're not Gaga for Gaga...You dress all freaky, and then you rub it in everybody's faces." When Kurt defends himself (and by extension the other Glee Club members), they tell him that the next time he "expresses" himself, they will beat him up. The jocks aren't just targeting Kurt, but also threaten Finn. Although Finn is their teammate, they disapprove of his participation in Glee Club. At one point, Finn verbally attacks Kurt, giving in to the pressure of his peers. Finn redeems himself when he stands up for Kurt, just before the jocks attack him in the school bathroom.

While the bullying aspects of the show definitely took a back seat to the Gaga "theatricality" of the rest of the episode, it does raise an important issue in elementary and secondary schools. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a report in 2009 on school crime, which includes statistics on school bullying. Nearly 1/3 of junior high and high school students reported being bullied at some point during 2007, including 23 percent who reported that the bullying occurred on school grounds. Of those who reported being bullied, 7 percent reported being bullied almost daily. Although the bullying portrayed in Glee occurred between males, a higher percentage of females reported being bullied. The report disaggregates the information by gender and race/ethnicity, but not by sexuality, which appeared to be a critical catalyst in the Glee storyline.

In addition, cyber-bullying is a new phenomenon that is occurring with the rise of online activity and the number of social networks available to students. Four percent of students reported being bullied online, and some schools have even begun to set policies to reduce cyber-bullying. It will be interesting to see if the writers of Glee incorporate cyber-bullying into a future episode.

Glee - Dream On

This week's episode of Glee centered on William McKinley High School board member Bryan Ryan, played by Neil Patrick Harris, who threatens to cut the glee club in an effort to save the school money. Being a former glee club member who has "come to his senses," Bryan claims that by participating in glee club, students have false hopes and dreams of becoming stars. He not only sees cutting the glee club as a way to save money, but as a way to prevent students from being misled about realizing their dreams.

Will Schuester, the glee club instructor, helps Bryan realize that he still loves to sing, and does not really want to cut the club. Bryan then begins to review other extracurricular programs, including cheerleading.

Bryan argues with Sue Sylvester, the Cheerleader/Cheerios coach that arts and music education benefit students. He provides the example that singing helps students hear different pitches, which helps them learn different languages. Sue argues that since 1/3 of American teenagers are obese and only 2 percent of high schools require daily physical activity, that athletic programs like hers are needed. In addition, sports teaches students how to work together, helps them learn how to solve problems, improves their social skills, and increases attendance and grades. Sue has "done her homework" and she is right, yet many public high schools have cut funding for physical education programs and classes. Bryan is also right, and yet arts education programs are usually the first programs to be cut in a budget crisis.

Sue's statistics are correct, according to a study released by the Center for Disease Control in 2006. Only 2 percent of high schools, 8 percent of middle schools, and 4 percent of elementary schools required daily physical activity. With childhood obesity on the rise in the U.S., and life threatening diseases such as juvenile diabetes increasing in children and teenagers, physical education should be a priority in our schools. At the same time, arts education should not be underfunded or not exist. Somehow, we have to find a way to fund both, and fund both adequately.