Latest news with #deafculture
The Guardian
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore review – stirring study of activism and adversity of a deaf icon
Shoshannah Stern's study of Marlee Matlin is a film with a real story to tell, about a woman who became a compelling figure in American public life. She is perhaps destined to be known chiefly as the first deaf performer to win an Oscar, for the movie Children of a Lesser God in 1987, but she also campaigned to ensure that Washington DC's Gallaudet University for deaf and hearing-impaired people had a deaf president, and that all new TV sets were built with optional closed-captioning for deaf people. Generally, she has conducted an ongoing campaign to do away with the condescension of pity, and to raise awareness among hearing people about deaf people's consciousness and culture, particularly in sign language. Matlin revealed something more in her 2009 autobiography I'll Scream Later: a history of drug addiction (the Betty Ford clinic told her she had to pay for her own interpreter) and of being sexually abused as a child. She also revealed she'd been abused as an adult by her partner William Hurt, her method-acting co-star in Children of a Lesser God, who was perhaps less than delighted to see all the acclaim go to her and was, in a pre-#MeToo period of exposure, singularly unrepentant. There are some toe-curling TV clips of Matlin being patronised by pundits as the 'sympathy vote' candidate ahead of the 1987 Oscars, and Stern also perhaps mischievously catches out some people in the present day: Nicole Kidman didn't look entirely relaxed applauding in sign language as the drama Coda, about a hearing girl in a deaf family, won at the 2022 Oscars. This is an engaging and thoroughly worthwhile movie. I myself am agnostic, to say the least, about the crowd-pleasing Coda, of which Matlin was a part, but it certainly could not have existed without her and her achievements. Children of a Lesser God is a more self-conscious issue movie, though, perhaps oddly, this documentary doesn't point out its fundamental flaw: Matlin's character is not subtitled, so Hurt's character cumbersomely has to vocalise what she signs for the hearing audience's benefit, as if pondering it to himself. This film makes a rather interesting case that Matlin's achievements showed up as much or more on TV, with her sparkling small roles on Seinfeld and The West Wing. Either way, Matlin is an American pioneer. Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore is in UK cinemas from 8 August
CTV News
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Fontaine apologizes to Deaf community
Winnipeg Watch Manitoba's families minister will be taking part in deaf culture training after video emerged of her complaining about sharing a stage with ASL interpreter.
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Manitoba minister to take part in deaf culture training following hot mic comments
Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine is apologizing after being caught on a hot mic complaining about an ASL interpreter at an event. Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine is apologizing after being caught on a hot mic complaining about an ASL interpreter at an event. Manitoba's families minister will be taking part in deaf culture training after video emerged of her complaining about sharing a stage with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday, Nahanni Fontaine outlined the steps that she and her team will be undergoing to take responsibility. 'I know words alone aren't enough. So, I want to be clear about the action I and my team are taking,' she said. 'My team and I will undergo deaf and deaf culture training to deepen our understanding, confront gaps and ensure our actions reflect true respect and inclusion, not just intention.' Fontaine said she is committed to making every public event fully accessible and will work with ASL interpreters to ensure they have what they need to do their job. She added the government will also be hiring an ASL interpreter to support all departments. 'I will be appointing a deaf or hard of hearing matriarch to join us in the matriarch circle, so that lived expertise is also at the heart of our work,' she said. 'We are finalizing engagement on the last of Manitoba's accessibility standards -- Accessible Design of Outdoor Public Spaces -- and preparing to launch that process very soon.' The minister's comments come just over two weeks after APTN National News captured a hot mic moment that followed Fontaine's speech at a grad ceremony where she was accompanied on stage by an ASL interpreter. While preparing to speak to reporters after the speech, Fontaine told one of her staff members that she was thrown off by the interpreter's presence, adding that she shouldn't have been on stage. The staff member then asked if the interpreter's 'frantic hand movements' were distracting, with Fontaine replying, 'Yeah…Why did I have her stage?' Premier Wab Kinew said he has discussed the matter with Fontaine, and she will stay on as minister responsible for services for people with disabilities.
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
You must order using sign language at this ByWard Market restaurant this summer
Diners will be required to 'sign for their supper' while sitting on the patio of a restaurant in Ottawa's ByWard Market this summer. Dark Fork opened its restaurant in the ByWard Market last September, the city's first 'dine-in-the-dark restaurant.' Patrons eat in a dark dining room where cellphones and other sources of artificial light are forbidden. With the arrival of patio season, Dark Fork is launching the first ever sign language dining experience on its patio on George Street. 'This summer, Dark Fork – famous for its 'dining in the dark' experience – is stepping into the sunlight with a powerful new concept: a patio where guests 'sign for their supper,'' Dark Fork said in a statement. Starting in June, diners enjoying their meal on the heritage stone patio will be required to place their orders in sign language. 'Staffed by deaf and hard-of-hearing servers, the new outdoor space offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to engage with deaf culture in a welcoming, hands-on way,' the restaurant said. Dark Fork says 'easy-to-follow visual guides' will be placed on each table to show diners how to sign 'please,' 'thank you,' and 'check' along with clear illustrations for each menu item. The 'sign for your supper' patio experience will run from June 4 until the end of the summer. 'This initiative is a collaboration with the Tourism Workplace Accessibility Clinic and is about more than food,' Moe Alameddine, founder of Dark Fork, said in a statement. 'It's about connection, inclusion, and being part of someone else's world for a little while.'
The Guardian
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Deaf President Now! review – stirring record of student protest
'It's awfully difficult to talk above this loud noise,' says the chair of the board of trustees at a liberal arts university. It's the late 1980s, protesting students have shut down the campus and now, midway through a tense meeting, someone has set off the fire alarm. But here's the thing, Gallaudet University in Washington DC is the world's first deaf university. The students can have a conversation just fine with the alarms blaring – in sign language. But trustee chair Jane Bassett Spilman does not sign. In fact, she appears to be completely ignorant about deaf culture – and, dressed like a Margaret Thatcher lookalike, all handbags and helmet hair, she is the easy-to-loathe villain of this fascinating documentary. Co-directed by actor and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco with Davis Guggenheim, this is the story of an eight-day student protest at Gallaudet in 1988. Trouble started when the board, led by Spilman, appointed a hearing person as the university's president, over two deaf candidates. The film's heroes are the four students who led the uprising: Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Jerry Covell, Greg Hlibok and Tim Rarus; they entertainingly interviewed here. With a blend of archive footage and re-enactments the film-makers skilfully recreate the urgency, passion and energy of their protest. In the end, the students won and Gallaudet appointed its first ever deaf president, I King Jordan. Fascinating, too, is the shift in attitudes. What Spilman and her cronies represented was an old mindset that deafness was something to be fixed, that deaf people needed to helped; the students had grown up with that audism. One former student describes being smacked with a ruler at school if he signed, another explains that his deaf grandfather told him not to sign in public. But their generation were done with it. Their energy and spirit of resistance are glorious. Deaf President Now! is on Apple TV+ from 16 May.
