#Legally Deaf

[arthurdrakoni]

Seen and Not Heard is an audio drama that makes the bold choice to depict the experience of deafness in an audio medium. And it does so quite well. This is my review.

Audio drama, and audio fiction in general, is the last place you’d expect to find people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Despite this, there are a surprising number of such individuals involved in the world of audio drama. And it isn’t just fans. In fact, @seenandnotheardpod is an audio drama created by a deaf individual. 

Seen and Not Heard follows a young woman named Bet Kline. She has recently lost most of her hearing as a result of an unspecified illness. The series follows a few weeks in Bet’s life as she tries to navigate her now mostly soundless new life. She has to deal with her rather insensitive mother. She meets a nice young man named David, who might be more than he appears. More than anything, Bet has to decide what she wants out of her new life. 

I first become aware of Seen and Not Heard when it got recommended to me on that “You Might Also Like” section of the Apple Podcast app. The first thing that stood out to me was the title card. You see a circle of hands using sign language. That, plus the title, clearly indicated that this would be something involving deafness. A non-fiction podcast about deafness would certainly be odd, but not necessarily out of the question. But this was recommended based on my recent listening. Surly, it couldn’t be an audio drama about deafness, could it? I tapped the cover art, and sure enough, that’s exactly what it was. 

I admit that this show had a certain dancing bear element to it. It’s not everyday that you find an audio drama where the main character is deaf. Oh, but that’s not the only unusual feature about Seen and Not Heard. You see, it is also created by a deaf individual. Series creator @saucymincks, who uses they/them pronouns, is legally deaf. They describe themselves as being exactly halfway between fully hearing and fully deaf. So, they have some hearing, but it is less than optimal. They often get help from their friends to make sure that the audio from their podcasts is correct and up to snuff. And yes, that’s podcasts plural. Caroline Mincks has made several other podcasts besides just Seen and Not Heard. They have also worked on several other audio dramas, and have helped make transcripts for several shows. Speaking of which, transcripts are available on the Seen and Not Heard Twitter account. 

And Caroline isn’t alone. As it turns out, there are a surprisingly high number of deaf and/or hard of hearing individuals who enjoy audio dramas. They come because the shows all seem interesting, and they want to take partake in them. Just the same as hearing people do. This is why it is important to include transcripts with your audio dramas. Without them, it is very difficult for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to enjoy audio dramas. Also, transcripts are very handy for people who write reviews of audio dramas. 

Now, prior to listening to Seen and Not Heard, I’d had a less than stellar experience with depictions of deafness in audio dramas. The only other time I’d seen deafness in audio dramas was in The AM Archies; which is season six of The Bright Sessions. There’s a scene between a hearing character and a deaf character. The deaf character communicates using sign language, which is conveyed by a series of barely audible wind rushing noises. I actually had to rewind multiple times to just to figure out what the hell I was listening to. It didn’t help that Lauren Shippen bragged about how groundbreaking the scene was on Twitter. She came across less as someone who wanted to sincerely depict deafness, and more like she was cynically trying to virtue signal. It also didn’t help that the characters only appeared in that one scene, and had no impact on the plot.  

I went into Seen and Not Heard with an open mind, but I was fully prepared for it to be terrible. Much to my surprise, Seen and Not Heard proved to be quite well-written, and took great care to execute it premise in an entirely audio medium. There is strong feeling of sincerity and genuine care being put forward. This is clearly a very intimate subject for Caroline Mincks, and they wanted to do the topic of deafness proper justice in an audio medium. I alway give points to those who act with sincerity and genuine conviction.

We get a few scenes where we actually get to hear what things are like from Bet’s perspective. It sounds like she has her head underwater. I could kind of make out a couple words and phrases, but I was fairly lost during those scenes. Of course, that’s the point of those scenes. We’re suppose to sympathize and empathize with Bet’s struggles. Bet communicates verbally both in interactions with other characters and her internal monologue. Bet was not born deaf, so presumably she remembers the mechanics of talking. It is also mentioned that she can lip read, and can somewhat better understand people if she’s facing them. She does enroll in a sign language class. She’s the only actual deaf person in the class. Pretty much everyone else has family of significant others who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

I do wonder how much of Seen and Not Heard is autobiographical. It didn’t escape my notice that Bet and Caroline Mincks share a number of similarities. They are both Jews from northern Virginia. Many of the foods that Bet cooks and eats are also ones I’ve seen Caroline mentioning cooking on Twitter. They also seem to be fairly similar in terms of personality. There’s also the obvious similarity that they are both deaf to the same degree. 

There’s a bonus episode where Caroline Mincks gives advice on how do write deaf characters, as well as a bit about what it is like to be a deaf audio drama creator. They said it is considered rude to ask deaf people how they became deaf. Be that as it may, given all of the other similarities between Bet and Caroline, I can’t help but wonder. I also wonder how much of the plot draws from Caroline’s own life. There are some differences, like how Caroline identifies as non-binary, while Bet identifies as female. However, I also don’t know how Caroline identified when Seen and Not Heard was made. 

I should also mention that, in addition to being the series creator, Caroline as provides the voice for Bet. Caroline gives a very earnest and heartfelt performance. It was quite clear, as with everything else, that this was a very personal subject for Caroline. Caroline also assembled a team of very talented voice actors to help bring the other characters to life.

Caroline has hinted that we might be getting a season 2 of Seen and Not Heard at some point.  I’m certainly on-board if that does come to pass.

Have you listened to Seen and Not Heard?  If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-audio-file-seen-and-not-heard.html?m=1

[homoeroticchess]

i know that as musical theatre fans we all have dream roles or productions we would absolutely kill to be a part of but i think the more interesting question is which show could you never be a part of because it would ruin it for you forever. like youre too attached to the original score/cast/staging that having someone else direct it in a way just slightly different would make you homicidal.

[herdreamywasteland]

hyper specific poll

[brokenfoxproductions]

So I found out today that the judge that ruled in my eviction case has a bad reputation of being really nasty to members of the LGBT community and disabled people, which kind of checks out considering how she treated me.

She purposely and aggressively misgendered me despite the fact that I actually have my legal gender updated (just not my legal name changed) even after her clerk and receptionist went out of her way to be respectful and to match the pronouns that go with my legal gender (and whenever I showed up, she actually asked me if my name was my partner's legal name, and she was extremely shocked to realize that I was transgender and not a cisgender man).

I mentioned to her that I was hearing impaired and that I have a neurological disorder that affects my speech, but she refused to allow me to have any type of interpreter or accessibility device, and even refused to allow me to review the typed transcript of what was being said in the courtroom so that I could understand what was going on.

She caused me to have a dissociative episode during the hearing because she screamed at my face as loud as she could at one point and allowed my landlords to scream at me during multiple points before finally shutting them down whenever my landlord started acting like she was going to physically harm me, and I explained to her that I didn't understand what was going on and that I was dissociating, but she refused to allow me to get a continuance or to reschedule, causing me to black out during several points whenever I was supposed to be testifying. I explained to her at one point whenever I was kind of lucid that I didn't understand what was going on and that I couldn't properly think of any of my prepared questions or anything that I had brought as evidence because I was dissociating in and out, but she still would not allow me to come back and testify later or to make any type of accommodations.

Today I found out from someone who had seen online reviews and discussion about this judge that, apparently, she did the same thing to an intellectually disabled gentleman (refuse to accommodations and refuse to allow him to come back whenever he was able to get an attorney or someone else who was able to explain things to him) and someone who was completely deaf who requested an ASL interpreter and was denied (I am only unilaterally deaf, so I still have some hearing, but not enough for me to have fully understood everything that was going on there without some type of transcript or having someone write it down for me. I don't use ASL, but apparently even if I did, it would not have been available to me).

I want to make a complaint to the state but they don't have judges or district justices listed on the law board's complaint website, so I have to call back tomorrow during business hours and file a complaint over the phone.

It might sound stupid but I was so busy catastrophizing and being upset over what was going on that it didn't really occur to me that I was treated badly because of my disability or because of me being queer, I just figured that the judge was a cunt because she's a cunt, but the more other people pointed out to me the more I realize that she treated me like shit and gave me a really harsh and negative judgment because of her own personal beliefs on people like me, which is really fucked up and shouldn't happen if you're a judge or otherwise work in the legal system.

So yeah please make sure to do a little bit of research before you go to court to find out if you actually need extra help like an advocate or an attorney, even if it's a civil matter, because accessibility and basic human decency isn't always approved by the court depending on who the judge is and how much of a dick they want to be.

[frecklystars]

I've watched Barbie over 90 times, yet now I've just realized Barbie was mumbling to Ken when they're helping him on the beach... so I turned on the captions and she says "you did so well" when they're helping him across the beach 😭😭💘

[softboyshaven]

I always laugh when people find out my younger sister is deaf and they're like "omg do you two speak to each other in ASL??" I am blind 😭 we do not. We text while in the same room lmao

[fennopunk]

Today I learned that due to my ADHD-diagnosis, I'm not eligible to donate my egg cells ✌️ Not that I particularly want to, but I can't say I'm pleased that I can't do it because I'm not neurotypical. My autism isn't formally diagnosed yet, but it would be prevent me from donating too.

Welcome to Finland, the happiest country in the world, where eugenism is still doing well.

[old-skulls]

hot take i fucking hate bethesda survival mode. no i don’t want to walk everywhere and starve to death or die every five minutes in general, i just want to be reminded to eat food and sleep for roleplaying purposes

post canceled what the fuck are these suggested tags

[laulo821]

nothing scarier than thinking i might start losing hearing, making me one step closer to being the replica of my mum

[silks-up-my-sleeve]

If I hear this version of Mele Kalikimaka one more time I will be committing arson

[permian-tropos]

tfw when I develop a new hyperfixation and it gives me overwhelming joy and then some weird fucked up depressing thing happens to it posthaste 

[painfully-unoriginal]

Almost gave myself a fucking concussion at work

[desperatecheesecubes]

Man idk if anyone considers having a ruptured eardrum as a disability but that shit affects me on the daily and in so many aspects of my life. Someone will be talking a little loud to me and suddenly it will pass the threshold that my ear can still filter and then I don’t hear anything from one side anymore it’s just very painful white noise from inside my skull.

Anyway planes are like that all the time for me now so whooohooo

[rosielindy]

Evil personified 👺

With Lilly and Purdue pharma lining pockets we will never see legal cannabis in Indiana. I’m surrounded by states that are much more progressive, even Ohio has a ballot measure in November.

I’m gonna do all I can to turn the tide here but if Mike Braun becomes governor in 2024, I’m Audi 5000!

[engagekiss]

Request

A gender related to fairies, meat, fairies eating meat and fairy meat itself

&

A gender related to the fae as a reclamation of the changeling myth by desabled folk

your first request has been posted, but the goddess doesn’t consider sewself disabled so se can’t do your second one !

[revrads]

“Star Trek: Earth Spacedock”: A Parody Anthology

I’m currently working on a comic for my college class and I’ve never posted my Star Trek OCs here so I thought it’s time to post my Earth Spacedock crew! Here’s the cover and first page! :)

The characters on the cover are (left to right):

James Mackenzie Reed (36/M), The Armoury Officer and Chief Security Officer. Direct descendant of legendary Armoury Officer Malcolm Reed, hot-headed and cynical but a loyal soldier with a strict moral code and an affinity for weapons

Achara Paithoon (37/F), Operations Manager and Second Officer. Hailing from an island in Thailand, inexperienced in command and has mad anxiety but is cunning and resourceful enough to make it as an Head of Ops

T’Oriell Oliver Calcraft (36/M), Chief Medical Officer. The caitian raised in the bush of Australia, naive and a “larrikin” but also one of the most competent doctor in this side of the quadrant with a heart of gold

Orion Finch (35/NB), Chief Science Officer. Spacedock’s exobiology and cybernetics prodigy, has trouble focusing and keeping tracks on things but they’re still one of the most intelligent crewmember