Deaf World as Eye See It

All,

You may wonder how it feels for two young women finding out they were switched at birth, and dealing with their conflicting feelings about belonging in their own families and communities?

Having two infants switched at birth is a very rare occurrence. To learn bit more about this, go to Wikipedia link here.

Now, I am talking about ABC Family’s Switched At Birth starring Katie Leclerc as Daphne Vasquez, a red-haired Deaf young woman living with a single mother and grandmother with Puerto Rican descent.

This premiere episode came out with a very strong start. Bay Kennish, (Vanessa Marano) was doing a biology project to learn about her own blood type, and found out that she was not genetically related to her parents. Eventually, Bay was able to meet with her biological mother who bears same resemblance as herself. Bay met Daphne for the first time, and learned that Daphne is Deaf.

When the Kennish family learned Daphne Vasquez as their biological daughter; John Kennish (D.W. Mofffet) made statements which appeared to be ignorant when he was trying to be helpful by “assimilating” Daphne Vasquez to the real world, as known as the “hearing world”. John Kennish thought that cochlear implant as a miracle device for Deaf, and convinced Daphne to enroll in a hearing school instead of School for the Deaf as a “deaf bubble”. All of these statements stirred all of the emotions inside me. There were plenty of examples of ignorance throughout the show.

Daphne’s mother, Regina Vasquez (Constance Marie) a mother who embraces Daphne as a person, not a deaf child and she signs with Daphne. Constance Marie is not ASL fluent, but the point is this character who signs to her own child! I would love to see parents of deaf children to follow her example.

The common theme of this show is all about belonging. That is the main theme.

Both young women knew they are different. Daphne Vasquez was happy with her family and community, until she meets the Kennish family. Same for Bay Kennish, who struggled with her feelings about her family because she looked and acted different, until she meets the Vasquez family. Everything changes.

I wanted to thank to the writers of this show who bring up the issues out in the open for the audience. Serious issues about acceptance and belonging, along with racism, audism, and classism issues.

I cannot wait to watch next episode! What are your thoughts?

Best,
Amy Cohen Efron