Hearing our stories, in the right way

 

   I was thrilled to see Troy Kostur win the Supporting Actor Award at the Academy Awards on Sunday for his portrayal of the loving but tough deaf father and fisherman who, along with his deaf wife and deaf son, relies on his hearing daughter for communication in the heart-warming film, CODA (an acronym from Child of Deaf Adults), which went on to win the Best Picture award.  Not only was I delighted that he was the second deaf person to win an Oscar for acting (Marlee Matlin, who played the mother in CODA, was the first for her role in Children of a Lesser God) and that he so eloquently and movingly celebrated this, our moment” for the deaf, the disabled, the CODAs in his acceptance speech.  I also know that Kostur is an exceptional actor, having had the privilege of seeing him in several plays, mainly at the small Deaf West Theater in North Hollywood. I’ll never forget him yelling “Stella!” – raw and painful, impassioned and desperate – with his own strained voice (he signed all his other lines, interpreted by an actor who shadowed him, as with the other deaf actors in a creative innovation) as Stanley in Deaf West’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire. 

   There has been lots of cheering about this “our moment” – and rightfully so.  This is a moment worth cheering.  As Matlin, who insisted that the other deaf characters in CODA be played by deaf actors, said in a Los Angeles Times feature a few days after the Oscars, now is the time for deaf people, for disabled people to tell their stories and to be heard. 

   But what is the right story?  Before the Oscars, before all the cheering about Kostur’s and CODA’s wins, before the talk of this being “our moment,” there was grumbling. It was said that the film is unrealistic, that no deaf parents would rely so completely on a hearing child for communication, putting so much pressure, almost to a cruel extent, on the child.  What about all the services and devices available to the deaf? it was asked.  Why aren’t they mentioned or depicted in CODA? 

   I’m wondering what has happened to all these points and questions, which are perfectly valid and ones that should be dealt with.  Are they still being raised and I’m not hearing them amid all the cheering over the wins (not to mention all the talk about Will Smith’s “slap heard ‘round the world” that cast a pall over the whole affair)?

   Perhaps all this seems petty in light of the historic Oscar win.  Perhaps we shouldn’t squabble, but we should remember there are important questions.  Yes, Troy Kostur’s win is very much worth celebrating, and, yes, Matlin is right that it is time for us disabled folks to tell our stories to a broad audience, but it’s just as if not more important that these stories be told correctly and authentically.