Help Trying To Understand

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HeyNow

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First of all I'll say that I myself am not Deaf. I'm 20 and an English major, and I have this (rather big) problem with the writing community in that most stories begin told are always about the majority of people or the "norm" with complete disregard for anything seen as not "normal".

I've made it my mission to write about all kind of people, and currently a friend and I are collaborating on writing a super hero comic book. It so happens that a character I've created is a Deaf, 16 year old girl.

I don't want to appear insincere, wrong or simply assume I know about what a young Deaf teen feels.

So I'm here to ask how exactly does it "feel" to be a young Deaf teen living in a hearing world. I'm aware that there's many possible answers to this question but I hope that through listening to some answers I can authenticate my character's feelings, motives and being.

EDIT:

I guess what I meant was at 16 its hard enough being a teen. So how did you yourself find interacting with the hearing world? Because I plan for her to interact with many non ASL speaking characters.

That's something that I can't even begin to imagine as a hearing person, despite knowing some ASL. So I wanted to know how everyone approached it, or if it was even something that had to be dealt with.
 
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There's no one way to be Deaf just as there's no one way to be Black or Muslim. You might want to include some instances that are particularly to Deaf/Hard of Hearing people, but otherwise just think of your character as your character, in other words, someone who happens to be Deaf, rather than a Deaf person.

Your character's feelings, motives, and being will be particular to your character. I would say the only way deafness would play a roll is in some every day interactions, for example, trying to be understood by the cashier or asking someone to face them while speaking.
 
HeyNow said:
First of all I'll say that I myself am not Deaf. I'm 20 and an English major, and I have this (rather big) problem with the writing community in that most stories begin told are always about the majority of people or the "norm" with complete disregard for anything seen as not "normal".

I've made it my mission to write about all kind of people, and currently a friend and I are collaborating on writing a super hero comic book. It so happens that a character I've created is a Deaf, 16 year old girl.

I don't want to appear insincere, wrong or simply assume I know about what a young Deaf teen feels.

So I'm here to ask how exactly does it "feel" to be a young Deaf teen living in a hearing world. I'm aware that there's many possible answers to this question but I hope that through listening to some answers I can authenticate my character's feelings, motives and being.
Click to expand...


Does your character knows ASL?

Can she talk?

Does she have other deaf friends?

and so on..



Many factors out there.. Narrow it down some and perhaps some may be able to answer better.
 
Let me give you some advice as an MFA student in creative writing, as a university instructor of creative writing, and as a HoH/deaf person:

If you are really that interested in writing about D/deaf characters and writing, as John Gardner says, "Serious, honest fiction," then you must learn about it first, in the flesh (this is the case with writing about any type of culture/language group outside your own). Meet deaf people, learn a little (or a lot) of the language (ASL), observe Deaf people interacting with each other, research Deaf history, etc. You cannot go to an online BB, ask a few questions, and acquire enough information to write about a topic that is as vast, varied, and emotionally complicated as the Deaf experience--not if you want it to be authentic and moral. Understand that being d/Deaf isn't a static character trait, but is something that has an entire culture and world attached to it. Once you really understand the life your character lives, you will earn your license to write about her.

Believe me, I know your intentions are 100% noble, and I'm not trying to insult you or discourage you (though I don't know how else to say this except directly), but until you can truly give life to your character by experiencing that life firsthand, you're doing yourself, Deaf people, and readers a disservice.
 
TheWriteAlex said:
Let me give you some advice as an MFA student in creative writing, as a university instructor of creative writing, and as a HoH/deaf person:

If you are really that interested in writing about D/deaf characters and writing, as John Gardner says, "Serious, honest fiction," then you must learn about it first, in the flesh (this is the case with writing about any type of culture/language group outside your own). Meet deaf people, learn a little (or a lot) of the language (ASL), observe Deaf people interacting with each other, research Deaf history, etc. You cannot go to an online BB, ask a few questions, and acquire enough information to write about a topic that is as vast, varied, and emotionally complicated as the Deaf experience--not if you want it to be authentic and moral. Understand that being d/Deaf isn't a static character trait, but is something that has an entire culture and world attached to it. Once you really understand the life your character lives, you will earn your license to write about her.

Believe me, I know your intentions are 100% noble, and I'm not trying to insult you or discourage you (though I don't know how else to say this except directly), but until you can truly give life to your character by experiencing that life firsthand, you're doing yourself, Deaf people, and readers a disservice.
Click to expand...

Oh dont worry I'm one step ahead of you on that front. I'm currently taking ASL 2 at the UNiversity of Florida. And I do have interaction with other Deaf ppl and the Deaf community as a whole.

And that's why I found myself with a Deaf character out of nowhere. It seemed that that was simply who she was.

But I do appreciate what you're saying. I think that the more I learn and expose myself to the Deaf world the easier it'll be to understand this character.

Like CJB, which btw thanks for the response, really helped me think about it. Like most writers I started to over-think my character and found myself thinking of her as a Deaf girl not a girl who happened to be Deaf.
 
The only way you will know for sure is if you stick around in the deaf community (or this board)
 
HeyNow said:
EDIT:

I guess what I meant was at 16 its hard enough being a teen. So how did you yourself find interacting with the hearing world? Because I plan for her to interact with many non ASL speaking characters.

That's something that I can't even begin to imagine as a hearing person, despite knowing some ASL. So I wanted to know how everyone approached it, or if it was even something that had to be dealt with.
Click to expand...

http://www.alldeaf.com/introduce-you...ead-first.html

Refer again to this on how to find out how we all approached it.
 
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