The Making of ‘Deaf U'” panel

Gallaudet University organized a panel to talk about “The Making of ‘Deaf U'” on Tuesday. Watch it below and read more about the video gathering from Variety here.

Nyle DiMarco: how working on Deaf U made him reflect on his own college experience

Nyle DiMarco from his Instagram

Nyle DiMarco spoke with Entertainment Weekly about how he enjoyed his time at Gallaudet University. His new Netflix series Deaf U follows the lives of recent Gally students, which put him in a nestaglic mood. He said his time at Gallaudet helped him appreciate the diversity within the Deaf community:

There are people like me who'd be labeled as part of the elites because I come from a deaf family, I grew up in the deaf community, and I went to deaf schools. There was a time when I arrived at Gallaudet not considering other students coming in without the same background. So maybe my behavior could've been perceived as harmful by them. It's really a conversation about learning our own positioning within our community and learning how we're leveraging our positioning to support the entirety of the community and back one another as a whole.

DiMarco also reveals how he got into trouble at the school. Read the entire ET interview here.

Nyle DiMarco is getting his own comedy show

from Nyle DiMarco's Instragram

Nyle DiMarco will play a "charismatic, street-smart deaf man" in a new comedy series. The model, deaf activist, and TV star tweeted about it recently: 

Nyle DiMarco

@NyleDiMarco

if i told my younger self that i would eventually have my own series about Deaf culture, i wouldn’t believe it. deaf people leading in a series about deaf culture? not possible! this is huge for me... thank you all

DiMarco has also revealed that he has potentially been exposed to the coronavirus. He has experienced a fever, chills, a sore throat and lost his smell and taste. He is now recovering in self-isolation. Read more about it from Deadline here.

What Marlee Matlin Did In Quarantine

Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin is so bored In quarantine she pulled out the dress she wore to that fateful 1987 Oscars ceremony and tried it on again. Read what happened here.

ABC Show to feature ASL

ABC’s 'The Good Doctor' will air an episode on Monday that features ASL. In this episode, the team treats a young boy-born without a fully formed trachea and unable to speak, so he uses ASL to communicate. The boy will be played by deaf actor Zade Garcia. KVUE-TV has a video profile of Zade below (or read the story here).

Nyle DiMarco & Mariah Carey

Nyle DiMarco's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" ASL challenge got a thumbs up from Mariah Carey. Her song by that title hit #1 and she retweeted his video below, saying "This is Amazing!!!!!":

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU:
A CHALLENGE.

Post a video of you signing that! pic.twitter.com/uJPCyDmcYz

— Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) December 21, 2019

Deaf actor finally gets his wish: Not to be defined solely by deafness

Aaron Sorkin's stage adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird has just started its second season with a new cast. Academy Award nominee Ed Harris is taking on the role of Atticus Finch while deaf actor Russell Harvard has joined the cast as well. It was Harvard's wish not to be defined "solely by deafness." The Washington Post says he's getting that wish with the Shubert Theater show. Read the article here.

Marching Band incorporates ASL into its show

The Ferndale Marching Band from Ferndale, Michigan is using sign language in its halftime performances with help from Detroit-based deaf rapper Sean Forbes. The show is called The Sounds of Silence and about halfway through, the students stop playing their instruments and perform Forbes' song Watch These Hands in ASL. The video below of Forbes and the band practicing was posted by Cars 108, a Flint, Michigan radio station.

Celebrity makes Appearance at School Anniversary Celebration

Nyle DiMarco visited the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf for its 150th-anniversary celebration. KDKA-TV has a video report below or read the story here.

Young Deaf Fan Joins Carrie Underwood on Stage

Carrie Underwood invited 9-year-old Savannah Dahan to perform The Champion with her during a concert stop in Washington, DC over the weekend. Access Hollywood has a video report.

Deaf Actor on Netflix show

image from natashaofili.com

One of the actors on a new Netflix show called The Politician is deaf. Natasha Ofili plays a no-nonsense principal in four episodes. Ofili started out with an eye toward fashion but switched careers about five years ago. So far, she's appeared in several short films, theater productions, and commercials. And soon she'll be seen on Amazon Prime's Undone. a member of the National Black Deaf Advocates association, Ofili lost her hearing as a toddler. Read more of her story here. Below is the trailer.

Stephen Colbert's Ear

image by
NEIL GRABOWSKY

Comedian Stephen Colbert was born on this day (May 13) in 1964. What many people do not know about the comedian is that he is deaf in one ear. When he was young a surgery left him without an ear drum in his right ear. He explains, "I always wanted to be a marine biologist but then I had this ear problem. I have no ear drum. So I had this operation at the Medical University when I was a kid. Now I can't get my head wet. I mean, I can, but I can't really scuba dive or anything like that. So that killed my marine biology hopes."

Netflix Film uses ASL incorrectly

Prominent members of the Deaf community are criticizing a new Netflix horror film called The Silence. Deaf model Nyle DiMarco, among others, say some of the sign languages in the film is gibberish and a deaf person should have been cast in the role of the deaf person in the film. That comment comes after the director claimed in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that the teen who signs in the film, Kiernan Shipka, is "flawless" and, even though she is not deaf, Shipka has an "innate sense of what it’s like being a deaf person." DiMarco tweeted that the ASL "is not grammatically correct" in the film and that sometimes characters seem to understand sign language without looking at the person signing. 

Samantha Bee on Police and the Deaf community

Nyle DiMarco joined comedian Samantha Bee for a section of her show about the difficulties faced by the deaf when they encounter law enforcement.

DiMarco: ‘Pretending to Be Deaf Is Not Ok’

A Netflix original is getting heat from Dancing with the Stars champion Nyle DiMarco. The deaf model say a joke in the film about being deaf isn't appropriate.

Read more here.

Horror Film Casting Blasted

Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin and model Nyle DiMarco are among those in the Deaf community criticizing a new horror film called The Silence. A hearing actress was cast in a deaf role. Director John Leonetti told The Hollywood Reporter that the hearing actress has “flawless” signing and an almost “innate sense of what it’s like being a deaf person.” The film comes out in December. Read more here.

Nyle DiMarco Calls Out Marvel

Nyle DiMarco has tweeted about his displeasure over Marval's decision to portray one of its superheros as hearing when he was originally deaf. The model and actor told Mic:

Hawkeye in the Avengers — he's boring. I'm sorry. I'm a big fan of his work, but let's have a deaf actor in there instead... I think it would have made a better movie and better TV if they'd actually brought in a deaf actor.

Read more here.

A "legend in show business"

CNN sat down with deaf comedian CJ Jones. The news network calls him a "legend in show business." Watch the interview here.

Director Pushed to Cast a Deaf Actress for 'A Quiet Place'

image from A Quiet Place trailer 

John Krasinksi not only directed the new film A Quiet Place, he fought to cast deaf actress Millicent Simmonds as his onscreen daughter, according to the screen writers. Screenwriter Scott Beck told the Hollywood Reporter, “We always had a deaf character in the script, but John really pushed for them to hire Millicent. She came to set and taught everyone sign language. It was really amazing and brought an extra depth to the film." Read the full story here.

Deaf Actress Delivers "Powerful Performance" in Major New Film

A Quiet Place hits theaters across the country today. The horror film incudes Millicent Simmonds as one of the stars. The deaf actress has already made her mark in Wonderstruck and now she plays a pivotal role in this new film about a family that must stay silent to survive.