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How to Write Deaf Characters - From a real Deaf person’s perspective

Hello readers and writers alike, I would like to point out something that has been so glaringly annoying to me and other Deaf/HoH people so that we can end all these misconceptions. People who write for Deaf!Readers should know a few things before starting their imagines, fanfictions, blurbs - anything. It is not anyone’s fault for not knowing these things, most hearing people are not aware of the Deaf community or Deaf culture so here I am, a Deaf person who is majoring in Deaf Studies and Culture, coming here to tell you a few things to know when writing for a Deaf!Reader

(Remember this is my experience as a Deaf/HoH person and it may differ from person to person but this is what I learned/have slight annoyances within writing)

Deaf and Hard of Hearing is a culture. Yes, most people consider it a disability but IT IS NOT SOMETHING WE ARE ASHAMED OF! Please stop writing fics/imagines about Deaf!Reader being ashamed of not being able to hear or getting hearing aids to impress their SO. It’s completely wrong and just annoying. We are proud of our Deafness and we don’t want to be fixed.

DO NOT USE THE TERM ‘HEARING IMPAIRED’! This is basically a slur word. It was widely used in the ’90s but now it’s considered a derogatory term. Just use Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Or ‘deaf’ if the person is medically deaf and not culturally Deaf. (see next point)

Deaf and ‘deaf’ are different. Deaf is a cultural term for people who are born Deaf and raised in the community. The term ‘deaf’ is used in the medical field or used to describe someone who has hearing loss that does not associate with the Deaf Community. Usually, a hearing person who has become deaf later on.

Sign language is not a worldwide language. There are different types of language within sign language. ASL is for American and Canada. BSL is for Britain. So if you’re writing a story that takes place in a country that is not America or Canada, do not say ASL.

ASL does not = English. Same for every other language. ASL is its own language with grammar rules and semantics. It does not directly translate to English. So if you’re writing ASL most likely write in GLOSS or write it as you would write a hearing character. (Sentance: I want to go to the mall and buy a dress. GLOSS: I WANT WANT GO TO MALL I. ME BUY DRESS ME )

Deafness is on a spectrum. There is a legal threshold that someone must pass to be considered legally Deaf. Some Deaf people can hear more than others. I can hear high pitched noises sometimes. I know someone who can hear voices but can not hear what they are saying. Both of us are Deaf and we both cross that threshold. So when writing your Deaf!Character make sure to set a bar of what they can and can not hear.

Hearing Aids do not cure anyone’s deafness. It only helps hear some sounds and maybe hear if people are talking. Not what they are saying although it can help with that depending on how far they are on the Deaf scale.

Cochlear Implants are very controversial in the Deaf Community so if you’re going to write about them do your research!!! They are also not a cure for Deafness, just an aid.

Deaf people are not masters at lipreading! Even the best lip readers can only make sense of 30% of what is being said. I’ve been lip reading for years and I still only understand a little bit of what is being said. So no, your character is not going to miraculously know what’s going on from lip reading.

DO NOT have your characters yell at your Deaf characters. DOES NOT MATTER HOW LOUD YOU ARE! We can not hear you. Neither can your character. Have your other hearing characters speak normally. That’s the best way to lip read if they must.

Most Deaf people are born from hearing parents. It’s really rare for a whole entire family to be Deaf (Although I’ve met some and it’s super cool). But your character is probably born to hearing parents.

ALSO, the majority of hearing families with Deaf children do NOT learn ASL. It sucks but it’s true. Only about 30-40% of families learn sign for their Deaf family members. So keep it in mind,

So this is my list for now! I may add to it the more I think about things but this is basics I think everyone should know. If I forgot some then feel free to add! (as long as you are knowledgeable about the topic please). If you have questions please message me! Or if you need someone to proofread your Deaf!Imagines then I almost here for that. So happy writings everyone!

ILY

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HEY ARTISTS!

Do you design a lot of characters living in not-modern eras and you’re tired of combing through google for the perfect outfit references? Well I got good news for you kiddo, this website has you covered! Originally @modmad made a post about it, but her link stopped working and I managed to fix it, so here’s a new post. Basically, this is a costume rental website for plays and stage shows and what not, they have outfits for several different decades from medieval to the 1980s. LOOK AT THIS SELECTION:

OPEN ANY CATEGORY AND OH LORDY–

There’s a lot of really specific stuff in here, I design a lot of 1930s characters for my ask blog and with more chapters on the way for the game it belongs to I’m gonna be designing more, and this website is going to be an invaluable reference. I hope this can be useful to my other fellow artists as well! :)

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““I die in Iron Man,” says Sayed Badreya, an Egyptian man with a salt-and-pepper beard. “I die in Executive Decision. I get shot at by—what’s his name?—Kurt Russell. I get shot by everyone. George Clooney kills me in Three Kings. Arnold blows me up in True Lies…” As Sayed and Waleed and the others describe their various demises, it strikes me that the key to making a living in Hollywood if you’re Muslim is to be good at dying. If you’re a Middle Eastern actor and you can die with charisma, there is no shortage of work for you. […] “Were you doing all that boozing because you felt guilty for playing terrorists?” I ask [Ahmed]. “There was an element of that,” he replies. “There was an element of not working between those parts. And then I had an epiphany. I called my agent: ‘Hey! Don’t send me out on these terrorist parts anymore. I’ll be open for anything else, but not the terrorist stuff.’ ” Ahmed pauses. “After that, she never called.” “How often did she call before then?” I ask him. “Oh, three or four times a week.””

— “You May Know Me from Such Roles as Terrorist #4″, Jon Ronson (via di-a-man-te)

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When people can accept dragons, giants and fucking ice zombies in a show but black people is too far for their imagination to stretch 😂😂😂

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ok there has to be some kind of rule put out that if straight people wanna play gay characters they have to stop kissing each other like they’re aliens who have just found out what kissing is

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watching an actress in full makeup pretend to wash her face and then pat dry her still fully contoured cheeks for an acne wash commercial

when i was 13 i had no idea what make up looked like on. media literacy is important

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I’m just going to leave this here…

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i may despise galen erso from the bottom of my shriveled maggoty heart but i have to tell you guys how he managed to sneak in the death star weak spot according to the rogue one novelization because it’s hilarious. if you’re expecting some feat of engineering genius so subtle no one noticed it, you are wrong. galen got krennic to sign off on it himself.

he annoyed the fuck out of krennic by cc-ing him in like a million emails to death star r&d. 

so i know we’re behind schedule here but we found this structural flaw and wanted to let you guys know about it, says galen.

and r&d is like okay so how do we fix it? 

and galen is like well we could start over? 

and r&d is like no that’ll take too long. 

and galen promises to think about it and writes to them later all hey how about we make some additional investments and get better materials?

and r&d is like no that’s too expensive. 

and galen is like weeeell…. 

and r&d is like well what?

and galen goes well there’s something we can do but you’re not gonna like it.

and r&d is like okay what is it. 

and galen is like are you sure you want to hear it?

yes, goes r&d. 

like, really really super sure? 

yes, goes r&d.

okay so the problem is radiation buildup, says galen. have i mentioned the problem is radiation buildup?

30 emails ago, r&d says.

right, so. says galen. we could build this exhaust port but it’s not going to get rid of all the radiation all the time, so if you’re having some stormtroopers around they might be exposed to it. i can look into some other options to reduce–

at which point krennic, who’s been cc’d in all of this, goes JUST PUT THE FUCKING EXHAUST PORT IN AND GET IT OVER WITH FUCK THOSE STORMTROOPERS ALL THESE EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS ARE DRIVING ME NUTS

and galen is like okay :)

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2018 - a year in review

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straight creators when they get asked if their character is gay: Art is meant to be interpreted. If you think she is gay, then she is gay. I’m honoured that this character has meant something to members of the LGBTQ community; it’s very humbling that you see your experiences reflected in her. Thank you.

gay creators when they get asked if their character is gay: ya lmao

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oh btw i watched the b99 episode that has everyone in a tizzy about the biphobia. 

keep in mind that every bi person has different opinions so while i may have one opinion, other bi people are entitled to their own! 

anyway so i don’t think it was a “bi woman cheats” storyline. so she broke up with alicia because alicia moved away. she began dating around again, and dating implies that it isn’t a monogamous or exclusive relationship yet. people are well aware of this. she was dating two people who found out about each other’s existence. they weren’t pissed because she was “cheating”, they were pissed because they wanted her to choose one (presumably bc they didn’t want their time to be wasted). rosa has a hard time deciding and eventually one of them breaks up with her, so she’s dating the other one instead. 

i definitely think the storyline is lazy though, and while i don’t think it directly feeds into the “bi women are cheaters” stereotype, i do think it feeds into the “bi women are indecisive” and “bi women aren’t serious or loyal about their relationships” stereotypes. they aren’t exactly the same. rosa’s indecisiveness about romantic relationships and the cavalier way she almost discards both of them can be seen as an aspect of her blunt and straightforward and no nonsense personality but to a cishet (and really to an audience of people who aren’t bi women) it can be seen as validating and justifying their images of bi women as frivolous “people who aren’t worth dating because they can’t genuinely love people and aren’t loyal enough”. and even though it’s not a “rosa cheats” storyline, it could still potentially be seen that way both by bisexual audiences and by cishet/biphobic audiences, which is still a problem.

so overall it was a poor storyline and i’m surprised and disappointed they went with it after how beautifully rosa’s coming out storyline was. i’m also surprised that stephanie, who is herself bi and has faced media backlash as a result in some instances, was okay with it. i remember in one interview she said that she wants rosa to have on-screen romantic encounters with both men and women (yet she hasn’t had a long-term on-screen relationship with development with a woman yet, and she hasn’t shared an on-screen kiss with a woman yet), and she wants rosa to be able to find a long-lasting, monogamous relationship just like the other characters have. i by no means am giving up on rosa and i still love the show and her character and i remain optimistic that the show will deliver on giving rosa a proper romantic storyline, but i do think the criticisms of this storyline are absolutely justified, and bi people have every right to be upset, especially considering that the show sets itself up as good lgbt representation. and yeah it’s copaganda so that’s always going to be taken with a grain of salt, since it is liberal propaganda at the end of the day, but still. and while i don’t think it was a cheating storyline, i think if they were going to go with it, they could have executed it far better. and it is obvious that a straight writer wrote the episode for that reason. 

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i remember looking for bi/gay book recs a few years back and was told to check out the price of salt bc it was about an m/m romance featuring a bisexual man set against the backdrop of the english civil war. the reviews on goodreads were dazzling. so i rented it from my local library and started reading, and i couldn’t get myself to finish it despite my best efforts because the author (a cis, heterosexual white woman) has the protagonist graphically rape and stalk multiple women, torture and murder several men, stalk and abuse his male love interest, express a lot of racism, misogyny, and act like a complete sociopath to every single person he meets. he lies, cheats, and bullies his way actively through the entire book, and steals from the poor and disenfranchised. he obsesses over women who express no interest in him and acts violently entitled to their attention and bodies, and expresses little remorse or understanding of his wrongdoing throughout the whole book. he experiences violent hallucinations telling him to kill and rape and hurt people, and he follows through on them. and i think at the end (i got about 2/3rds through it before i couldn’t handle it anymore) he gets put on trial for murder or rape or something and escapes to america??? or dies i can’t remember. and the narrative is still framed as such that the reader is supposed to care about him?? but the reviews (by other cishet women btw lol) were glowing, they said it was incredibly beautiful and artfully written and fascinating etc. but the entire time reading it all i felt was so fucking sick and angry.

i don’t fucking know what is wrong with cishets that they think its totally fine to write about how bisexual men are violent, homicidal rapists who don’t care about hurting people and actively go out of their way to gaslight, manipulate, and physically abuse those around them to get what they want, or why people with psychotic tendencies and intrusive thoughts are inclined to act out on them with zero remorse (when in reality ppl with psychosis are not anymore likely to commit violent crime than people without psychosis), or how that book got published at all, but it’s genuinely the worst thing i’ve ever read and really damaged me as a young bisexual when i first read it. literally no mentally ill bisexual man asked for nor do we deserve such “representation”, especially by voyeuristic straight women who seek to solidify popular belief that we’re monstrous demons who exist solely to cause pain and suffering in the lives of others all for entertainment or whatever the fuck reason the author wrote that ugly book. it’s been like 4 years since i first read it and it still bothers me and it was so terrible that sometimes i think i imagined it but a quick google search proves it definitely fucking exists lol and i’m still furious abt it.

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Not to be pretentious about art but male photographers that have portfolios that are almost exclusively filled with naked skinny white women with big boobs aren’t artists they’re just perverts

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👏🏽👏🏿👏🏻

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Isn't 'The Danish Girl' a movie about a trans woman? I haven't seen it, but I've heard good reviews about it

It’s a film based off of a generally inaccurate pulpy retelling of her life iirc, and the film erases a lot about her, and actually mostly centers on Gerda Wegener (Lili’s girlfriend), and it’s super ciswashed and fetishizes trans women, and Eddie Redmayne was cast in the role instead of a trans woman (or even literally a cis woman would be better, but once the director got his #1 choice on board, no one else was considered).

Eddie Redmayne supposedly talked to trans women to better understand how to portray us, and then proceeded to translate none of that into his performance, and certainly didn’t challenge the director or writers on the transmisogyny.

And after the film’s release, despite big talk about supporting trans people and trans rep, he’s done essentially nothing to help us, neither has the director and producer, or any other big name within the film. They exploited the trans community’s history and labour, misrepresented us, and dismissed us, all to create a pretty but hollow Oscar-bait film and run off with money made off our backs. it was expressly made to appeal to cis audiences ad cis understandings of trans people, and to show a story about cis people having to exist in a world where trans people exist…it was never going to be actual authentic trans representation.

No, it’s a shitty transmisogynistic film. One with pretty cinematography and costuming, but absolutely rotten to the core. 

Here’s three other reviews by trans women on the film. 

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revisiting book series from childhood is so weird when you’re significantly older than the protagonist. as an 8 year old kid i was like “wow he’s 13 thats so old and mature” but now im like…..what the fuck kind of cop teams up with a middle school kid to take down a criminal conspiracy. just give him a gun. it’s cool.