Does "True Life: I'm Deaf" Represent the Deaf?

This is my first Vlog! I am talking about the show "True Life: I'm Deaf" and my opinion of it.
TRANSCRIPT
Hello! My name is Michael Sprouse. This is my first Vlog! In this Vlog, I will talk about a show named True Life: I'm Deaf. This show is found on the MTV channel. As I watched the show, I became disgusted with it; I will explain why I formed this opinion later in this Vlog. First, I will summarize the show.
The Show followed two young deaf people. One is a college student and the other is a high school student. The name of the high school student is Chis, and the name of the college student is Amanda.
Amanda is a junior at Towson University in Maryland. She was born deaf but she does not use sign language, Speech is her primary mode of communication. She uses hearing aids. She is an extremely skilled dancer, like other deaf people, she relies on feeling the vibrations of rhythms and beats. She decides to try out for the Baltimore Ravens dance team, or, if you call it, cheerleading team. She made the first cut, and was about to advance to the second cut but to make the second cut; she had to prove she had a skill in public speaking. I will explain what public speaking means, it means talking about yourself, your experiences, encouraging others, being a role model, and stuff like that. She did not make the second cut. I will explain what happened, there was several judges, and there was 3 girls facing them, Amanda was on the end. When it was Amanda's turn, she spoke unclearly. How I knew that she was speaking unclearly, because I saw the judges facial expression when she spoke. She talked about her background, when she said that she was born deaf, the judges made more facial expressions. The girls left and entered a room full of students, actually girls who were waiting to see who would make it or be cut. Numbers was called. Amanda's number was not called. She became a bit depressed but said she would continue dancing. I applaud her efforts.
Now, I am going to talk about Chris. Chris is a student at Mountain Lakes in New Jersey. Mountain Lakes has a Deaf program there. Chris does sign but in PSE (Pidgin Signed English). His family signs also in PSE. That is typical of a mainstream student to use PSE. The show showed what school was like for him. I noticed the show focused on many negative aspects of being deaf. In one part, they showed Chris in what seems to be a Drama class. The students sat in stadium style seating. The teacher and a interpreter was in the front. A student behind Chris was reading aloud, Chris' eyes darted between the student and the interpreter. The interpreter ran up the steps to get closer to the student. I first thought, "Was that necessary?" I took it as a possibility that he prefers that. The show showed Chris talking to girls but struggles to effectively communicate. Chris has a girlfriend but they do not communicate through signs well. She is not able to read fingerspell well, depending on written communication. I thought "whoa." Chris decides to get a Cochlear Implant. He meets many people including doctors to prepare for the implant. The show did show the procedure itself. I could not stand to watch that part. The procedure was successful, it was about one or two weeks later, they turned the implant on. Chris suddenly started to pick up sounds including his own mother's voice. It meant it was a success. The show showed him at school with the implant, the same problems mentioned above, seemed to go away.
Now I will talk about my objections related to the show. It showed many disadvantages of being Deaf. It showed the misconception that Deafness could be cured, which really is not true. It is NOT TRUE! Really, I was truly disgusted. Now, imagine that millions of Deaf I mean Hearing people watch MTV. There is a good chance that several of them are going to be future parents of Deaf children. As they watch this show, and see what the implant supposedly does. When the time comes and they have Deaf Children, there is a good chance that the first thing they will do is to implant them. They will be reminded of the show because Pop Culture has a way of influencing society's behavior. Really, I am not comfortable with that idea. Another problem I have with the show, is that they does not show almost any positive affirmations of Deaf Culture, ASL itself, "D"eaf identity. They really does not show pride of being Deaf, they tried to change themselves or to fit in the hearing world. I am sorely disappointed with the show. It is my hope, that you, write a letter to MTV, make Vlogs, and to spread the word, to inform the MTV of our disappointment of them not accurately representing. For the sake of our future Deaf children, to educate MTV, about ASL, Deaf Culture, Deaf Pride, Deaf identity, Deafhood, and anything associated with Deaf Culture.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• VLOG
• ASL
• TRUE
• LIFE
• DEAF

[diadevlin]

What about subtitles for the hearing? *scnr*

[MountainDewFanatic09]

look in the transcript posted under the info tab

[Banerika]

plutogirllovekj, how many videos on YouTube have captions for deaf people? Wanna guess?

[rockmusicrockall2]

I'm interpreting music because I love music,.. Is there anything wrong with loving music? Deaf people don't love deaf culture, its who they are. They don't have to appreciate the "genius of Mozart or Madness of Madonna"... By the way, it's spelled HEAR, not here...O_o... and it's CHIRPING, not singing of a bird... I'm hard of hearing and I've got better english than you. =) We aren't in the dark. We're only different because we can't hear.

Please grow up as a favor for us all. Thanks. =)

[megthehufflepuff]

Being Hearing myself, I don't understand why anyone who is deaf wouldn't want to at least be somewhat associated with the "Hearing World". I mean, most of the people I know want those who are deaf to feel included and want to get to know them.

[IamDMStheH3r0]

I thought the episode was remarkable. I felt so happy for Chris when he entered the "hearing world". I never heard of CI's until I saw this episode, but I wasn't naive enough to think that a CI can cure everyone's deafness. I'm happy for Chris, and you should be too.

[deathsdescent666]

@BizaroMustard100 No, sign language isn't universal. It varies from country to country as much as, and sometimes even more so, than verbal language. For instance, ASL (American Sign Language) is different from BSL (British Sign Language) despite the fact that both the United States and Britain speak English.

[BizaroMustard100]

Hi, I was just wondering. Is sign language universal? Can you talk to people from other countries and do some people have different accents? Like if you spoke to a guy from Japan does he sign slightly differently? Sorry if I sound ignorant because I am. Thanks

[CelesteK]

You're right about new parents being too quick to implant their children. I believe that Choclear device surgery should be used only when the parents have tried everything else. Chris isn't really a bad person for wanting to have the surgery. But the way MTV portrayed him was horrible. And he made a video explaining how he felt after the show was over.

[CelesteK]

You're right about new parents being too quick to implant their children.  I believe that Choclear device surgery should be used only the parents have tried everything else. Chris isn't really a bad person for wanting to have the surgery. But the way MTV portrayed him was horrible. And he made a video explaining how he felt after the show was over.

[COO113]

the sound quality on here is horrible!!!!!

[hockeymania8]

can u talk

[sweetstaches]

I'm so glad you did this video, to show how the Deaf are NOT the way they are portrayed. I was not happy with this episode at all. I know it's proper to capitalize words in a title, but in doing so they were not distinguishing between Deaf and deaf. Chris was deaf. And reading the comments from some people, I feel like they don't understand. MTV should have had someone on the show who is Deaf, to show the positives, instead of focusing on the negatives.