Deaf Event

For my American Sign Language class I needed to attend some type of Deaf event. The event I chose was the showing of Love is Never Silent on October 22nd from 6-8pm in Wiley Hall at the University of Minnesota. Love is Never Silent is a very touching and powerful television movie from 1985. This movie can help the hearing world get a look at what it is like to have family members that are Deaf. This movie was also probably an inspiration for Deaf people by how relatable it could be to their life. The movie follows Margaret, a child of Deaf parents, through childhood until she is a grown adult. During the stages of Margaret’s life depicted through the movie I learned new information about Deaf culture and was able to make
Margaret’s main friend was an old man who owned a nearby shop. This is unusual for a teenager in high school. Margaret’s reason for not having friends over was because she was embarrassed by her Deaf parents. None of her friends knew her parents were Deaf until her graduation when it was discovered in an embarrassing way. Margaret’s friend tried to talk to her parents but they could not understand and when Margaret finally told her they were not responding because they were Deaf her friend said, “I’m so sorry” so obnoxiously that it created a huge scene with laughter and resulting in embarrassment for Margaret. Most people in hearing culture and in high school hang out at friends’ houses all the time but for Margaret it was not that easy. This movie opened my eyes to how some people actually view the Deaf community. In my opinion there was a lot of mistreatment towards Deaf people. One scene that stuck in my head was when Margaret’s parents purchased their first house. As usual, Margaret spoke for her parents. The salesman shared that he had never sold a house to the “Deaf and Dumb” and felt obligated to ask Margaret if they were able to function, read, and write. The salesman was surprised when Margaret told them they could read and even had full time jobs. This scene really surprised me because I never realized that people thought just because Deaf people have a difference in means of communicating that they are