Do not have your character have a disability JUST to say you have “representation” and to get more people to read your books.
This storyline of this book had such promise. A hearing male learns ASL for the girl he is interested in, who is deaf. Obviously, this is a romance book (look at the cover!)
Unfortunately, that’s the only good thing I can really say about this book.
It contained so many “wrongs.”
As soon as I started reading, it was very clear that the author did not have a deaf/hard-of-hearing person read the book first (a sensitivity reader). Or, if they did, they failed to even showcase a smidgeon of an accurate deaf experience.
You may think, oh! But that’s your opinion. Here are some examples of things that just didn’t make sense as a deaf person myself:
Signing and eating at the same time is “hard”. It’s easier to talk and eat.
Normally, it's the opposite. Being able to sign and eat at the same time is a deaf gain!
The deaf character understood another person 100% of the time when lip-reading, even when they were standing behind her - or if they were in another room.
The deaf character continuously became angry when family or friends signed instead of speaking to her.
While driving at night during a thunderstorm, the deaf character was on the phone speaking - and could understand what was being said (never asked “what?”)
Hearing aids are treated as a miraculous and they had “no limit to a sound” or what was heard
“I have my hearing aids in, you can talk to me,” is a direct quote when she is in a completely different room.
Finally, over 95% of the book she is speaking but says she is “too shy” to speak in public and embarrassed. There are maybe 4 conversations in total that “include” ASL.
I was extremely disappointed.
I am exhausted trying to find good, accurate deaf/hard-of-hearing representation that I can truly connect with and feel like I can be immersed in the story.
Please stop using a deaf character as a way to sell more books to a marginalized community. Stop putting a deaf character in a book as a joke, or a way to say, “I’m an ally!” or anything else. It’s just fake.
And please, if you are a hearing author - or even a deaf/hard-of-hearing author, and want to include a deaf character, please find a sensitivity reader who is a part of the deaf community. (PS, I’ll volunteer as tribute).
As a note, for even my books, I will still get other deaf people to read it and make sure that even what I include is a true representation.
Happy Reading!
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