The Whiners are Killing us

neecy

neecy

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I read this on another forum - I'm not sure who wrote it, but it really hits the nail on the head!!

The Whiners Are Killing Us!


We live in a marvelous age, truly! In the last century deaf people had only been represented by the many incarnations of Helen Keller in made-for TV movies and deaf kids who would appear on sitcoms, teach all of the kids ASL overnight, then disappear. These days we have deaf FBI agents (Sue Thomas), deaf bad guys (John Doe), and deaf characters gratuitously placed on hit shows like “Jericho”.

We have captioned TV, DVD’s, and even Movie Theaters. But now, all of these things are under attack – not from evil Hearies, but from idiot deafies who are not willing to let fair be fair enough.

First, they gripe that there are no deafies on TV. Then they gripe because the deafies on TV don’t sign enough. THEN they gripe about the quality of the signs, that the actors are actually Hearies, or just aren’t “deaf enough”. I got news for y’all – this doesn’t send the message that we won’t settle for sub-standard – it sends the message we won’t settle for anything.

Here’s a case in point – ABC’s upcoming “Bionic Woman” series. The show was to feature a deaf character in a prominent role as Jaime Sommers’ deaf sister. Deafies went into a tizzy because the actress chosen to play her wasn’t deaf. Come on, folks, it’s called acting for a reason! In Hollywood Hispanics play Israelis, straight people play gay people, gay people play straight people, Buddhists play Methodists, and men even play women!

Instead of being happy that deafies are being portrayed as just normal folks who occupy virtually every strata of society, the Whiners are doing their dead-level best to prove that deafies are bitter, uneducated people who can’t possibly be pleased. They’ve told Hollywood that if any and all deaf characters don’t meet up to the vocal minority’s view of “d-Deaf Culture” they will be overwhelmed with petitions, boycotts, and lawsuits.

This leaves the Hollywooders with only one simple choice: drop the deaf characters. With no specific points of contention deafies can only gripe about one thing – the lack of deafies in TV and Movies. This is what happened with “Bionic Woman”. Jaime’s sister is no longer deaf – thanks go to whiney deaf bloggers everywhere.

A deaf blogger recently bragged about throwing a tantrum and essentially bringing everyone’s evening to a halt by blockading the theater entrance because of a technical problem that prevented him from seeing “Transformers” in Rear-Window Captioning. I can assure you theater managers everywhere will hear about this and decide they really don’t need our business that badly.

Deaf Whiner Activists have successfully gotten local religious and educational programming pulled from the air because the producers couldn’t afford captioning.

A couple of years ago I went to a hospital for a kidney stone, and found out that I had waited for an hour for treatment while an ASL interpreter was procured. At the time I didn’t know ASL. They were aware of this – but a local ordinance required an ASL interpreter for all deaf patients. I had the term “deaf” removed from my information. So, thanks to Deaf Whiner Activists, I’m at risk of having problems at the hospital because I don’t sign. Thanks for nothing, ya nimrods!

I’m all for equal access for deafies. I’ve even campaigned for my share of these rights. It’s because off me that the cops in my area all carry 4”X5” notepads and pencils in their cars to ease communication during traffic stops.

I don’t, however, think that our being deaf entitles us to special privileges. We should be treated with the respect we deserve by police officers, for example – but the entire justice system doesn’t need to come to a screeching halt because we get pulled over for speeding. We should have access to captions. We shouldn’t expect theaters to close down because they can’t have them on every single movie – and it’s not fair to expect Hearies to put up with captions on every movie, whether or not a deafie is in the audience. I used to be a hearie, and I can promise you captions are annoying if you don’t need them.

So – don’t settle for sub-standard, but be happy for concessions when we get them. In other words, a puppy won’t learn tricks if you whack him on the nose – even when he gets it right. True change doesn’t happen overnight – and it’ll never come at all if the folks who can make the changes don’t think we’ll be happy anyway.
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neecy said:
I read this on another forum - I'm not sure who wrote it, but it really hits the nail on the head!!
Click to expand...

Wow.. it is good post... i agree with whomever write this...yes too many whiners...and i am happy with what i have... tty...vp...captioned closed tv... if something new for deafis then i will be happy....
 
Yea, I dont expect all movie theaters to have captioning at all times. Would be nice but that's not reality so just try to meet halfway. I cant believe someone had a temper tantrum over a technicial problem. Shit happens but to go that far? Whoa!


About deaf actors..I know many deaf actors and actresses myself personally and they have expressed their frustrations in trying to get into Hollywood. Competition is tough in Hollywood for anyone anyway. However, would be nice if a deaf actor or actresses were offered the deaf parts first but Hollywood is profit driven so big names make a difference. Can see from both sides...but not worth throwing a tantrum over. LOL!
 
Yeah I somewhere agree with this. If there's a problem, just do it in a proper way.

But they give you something, just accept it. It's okay to continue work to improve thing, but not make thing worse by losing one's temper.

If there's a deaf character on television that was played by hearing actor, just praise them for bring one. Maybe next time Hollywood realize that the crowd is happy for getting one and will bring in deaf actor.

I guess it can't be helped, not everyone is same and this means not everyone is patient with what the world have throw at us.
 
frankly i have to agree we're crossing a thin line if this keeps up we will lose more all because of money and poeple who are complaining, the * so called deafhood* will come to a screeching halt because we can not accomdate the deaf community we need to CONFORM to accept the world as it is, when money permits by all means access us but for now the MAIN THING IS we have access to interps, vp, tty, and ofc computer USE IT wisely cuz if u abuse it u lose it !
 
Neecy, thanks for posting that! I would love to see Bionic Woman's deaf sister plot but now that the plot is changed. it sucks! I do not give frak if she is not physically deaf or not.
 
It's NBC, not ABC. Just had to point that one out.

Weeks before the deaf bloggers started complaining about the deaf character; there were already a lot of buzz that they were going to drop the "deaf character" aspect from the show due to the poor feedback they received from the screenings. A lot of people felt that the deaf character was a weak character and thought it would be too much of a drag. They were already rewriting the scripts and re-shooting some scenes at the time of the complaints. In fact, I didn't object to it because I got the impression that they would eventually restore her hearing... since her sister is the 'Bionic Woman'. So I imagine a lot of people at the test screenings got that impression. It was just too predictive and TV executives don't want their shows to be too predictive.

I didn't blog about this even though I already had the knowledge on what was going on with the show.
 
Nice post!

Sort of reminds me of the saying "If momma ain't happy...ain't nobody happy!"
 
i found this article hilarious. the whiner of this article whined about the deaf whiners.

ha ha this is rich.
 
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This gave me quite a chuckle! Many of the same complaints happen in the blind community. God forbid a character in a movie or TV program isn't actually blind or that a blind person wasn't portrayed a certain way using Braille, a cane or guide dog. Some people are never satisfied, are they? :dunno:
 
I've got a life, and I think the whiner who wrote is wrong. If they didn't fight for a better life where would they be? TTY's, captions, interpreters being qualified, VP's, pagers, etc... would not exist, or would not be made so they would be useful for deaf people, without their fighting for it. Calling them whiners just shows the author to be a whiner.
 
The OP does make several good points. Its not about settling for less than the best - its about deaf people who will not settle for anything, which makes it harder for the rest of us.

Blocking people from entereing a theatre because RWC isnt available for a movie?? Come on - you could just politely ask when RWC would be available for that specific movie or you could just wait for it to come out on DVD with English subtitles.

Im happy to see a deaf character on TV - I dont care if they are deaf or not, besides, just by looking at a person, can you tell me they are deaf?? I doubt it, so leave it at that.

Yes it was good to stand up for things such as CC, TTYs, interpreters, etc, but now its borderline getting ridiculous to the way of affirmative action. Yes Im glad blacks got eual rights, but that shouldnt mean that just because a man is black he should get the job before I do based on skin color only and vice versa.

Theres a difference between standing up for what you believe in and throwing a hissy fit because it isnt eactly the way you wanted it to be.

Being nice will get you far, compromise helps you get to your destination.
 
You're just satisfied with what you got. Many, however, are not. A hearing actor playing a deaf role isn't necessarily wrong, but it is only a band aid. The band aid is enough for the little cut you have, but it isn't enough for the big wounds others have. They have every right to expect better. If you're satisfied with what you've got, fine, but they aren't, and they don't have to be.
 
Banjo said:
It's NBC, not ABC. Just had to point that one out.

Weeks before the deaf bloggers started complaining about the deaf character; there were already a lot of buzz that they were going to drop the "deaf character" aspect from the show due to the poor feedback they received from the screenings. A lot of people felt that the deaf character was a weak character and thought it would be too much of a drag. They were already rewriting the scripts and re-shooting some scenes at the time of the complaints. In fact, I didn't object to it because I got the impression that they would eventually restore her hearing... since her sister is the 'Bionic Woman'. So I imagine a lot of people at the test screenings got that impression. It was just too predictive and TV executives don't want their shows to be too predictive.

I didn't blog about this even though I already had the knowledge on what was going on with the show.
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Thanks for the info, banjo. You always seem to have the details that makes things like this more clear!
 
:gpost:
dkf747 said:
You're just satisfied with what you got. Many, however, are not. A hearing actor playing a deaf role isn't necessarily wrong, but it is only a band aid. The band aid is enough for the little cut you have, but it isn't enough for the big wounds others have. They have every right to expect better. If you're satisfied with what you've got, fine, but they aren't, and they don't have to be.
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For some, just seeing a deaf person portrayed inthe media isn't enough because it doesn't lead to equal opportunity. If there is a role that a deaf person could more readily play than a hearing person, the opportunity should, by all rights, be offered to them.
 
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