Sunday, March 30
Cold Case
OMG!!! I don't even know where to start about the problems with the Cold Case tonight. They made it seem like as soon as you got a Cochlear you could hear and talk. Does the Deaf community really hate Cochlears that much??! They also made it seem like you could just pick up an ASL for dummies book and be able to use sign language and understand others. It has taken me months & I still didn't catch all the signs that were used! Anyway, I have lots of thoughts, but would love to hear yours! Tell me what you thought and what you noticed. I really like Cold Case and was disappointed on how hearing and the Deaf were portrayed.
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16 comments:
Looks like the writer read about 3 or 4 newspapers articles about deaf people and thought he knew enough to be able to write a show. That's irresponsible. The show is filled with shallow stereotypes and implausible scenarios.
And many bad actors, too! Terrible!
I'm with you. The story line really was distressing and full of complete fabrications with no basis in reality. It made Deaf parents look like jerks, let alone "friends" who would murder a school chum over a jet-age hearing aid. One word: SHEESH.
I was absolutely shocked! Culturally deaf people do NOT
despise implantées! AGBell
Association for the Deaf must have fabricated about culturally Deaf people to the writer of
"Cold Case" and pushed the
producer and the director.
Were I in the shoes of either
Shoshanna Stern or Bob Hitterman,
I would have declined a role.
Agreeing to play a role means that an actor agrees about the
story which is completely untruthful.
I have no proof, but I very
strongly feel that the writer's
idea came from AGBell. Who else?
I will write to CBS that I will
never ever watch CBS ever again because CBS had failed to consult
Gallaudet University and all
schools for the deaf.
-Shaking head Mode Off-
Jean Boutcher
Cold Case was a BAD CASE!
Script was badly written.
Big Thumb down to that program!
Hmm, thanks for asking.
For starters, the staff of a deaf school would never get by with walking into a room and signing, "What the *hell* is going on here??!" That part got me off to a bad start.
Alot of things were wrong with the program, but hey, this was a t.v. presentation and about all we can do is mention that they could improve with some deaf advisors to keep the whole skit from going astray!
Andy's mother was designed to look stupid and socially lacking. I hated that part. The "father" was okay and believable, but the mother, NO!
The fact that the controversy between "D"eaf and CI Users might actually lead to murder is pretty far fetched, chilling and misrepresenting the problem.
Another thing I could not fanthom was a deaf child of deaf parents playing Chopin on the piano. A late-deafened person, of course, but deaf of deaf? Some one did not do their homework.
All in all I was pretty pleased to have all this brought out into the public to make people more aware. I just wish it didn't have to involve a murder!
Lantana
Hi! I watched the show tonight. I'm not a frequent viewer of "Cold Case", but tonight's show was a good one all-in-all.
I'm chuckling here. Yes, you're right that sign language is NOT that fast and easy for most of us to "pick up"! I found that a little funny, the way it was portrayed that a complete novice detective could suddenly sign so many words in a short time. It was completely unrealistic. Reading sign from someone else is usually harder to become good at compared to signing yourself.
I think the attitudes shown by all the characters was an attempt by producers to show the myriad of feelings surrounding Deafness, sign language in general, and the always controversial CI (cochlear implant). By the way too, those who do receive CI's most often don't instantly begin to hear either.
I'm not an expert. Just well-read and lucky enough to have Deaf friends. I've been learning sign language for about 5 years now, or close to it. ASL is a completely different word order than PSE (basically ASL signs in English word order....which is what you saw most of in the show). I'm still working on adding to my vocabulary and on changing from PSE to ASL. I'll always be working on it!
Imagine yourself opening the unabridged Webster's dictionary. Can you say you know every single word in that book already? Can you say you ever will? The same can be said for learning ASL or any other language! Isn't it great!?
For the show, a lot of information was shoved into a tiny time frame. The concepts displayed are all concerns for various people. Yes! CI's are a hot topic amond Deaf individuals! For something that will most likely never bring back hearing as non-deaf know it, it can be viewed as similar to the forced experimentation done in holocaust concentration camps. Besides, Deaf people feel they function fine without their ears. The only things my Deaf friends can't do that I can is hear....they're fine! The challenge is in communicating. The "handicap" is mine in that I don't understand or know enough to keep me satisfied with myself! I'll keep trying though. (smile)
~ AlanaMO
Two big thumbs down!!!!
I was disgusted to see the Dean talking to the detectives without using sign language in front of deaf parents. Holy Cow!
To me it sounds like the producers try to promote the concept of cochlear implants. Once more it gave a wrong impression that deaf people who are not eligible to have cochlear implants can kill other people with cochlear implants.
It really sucks!
Sandra Goldstein
I never have watch Cold Case, until I heard that there will be Deaf actors in. Last night I watched it, and it was not what I thought. A lot of CI involved, Cold Case make it looks like most and ALOT of Deaf people have CI, its not true! We need to create story that does NOT have CI involve in movie or tv shows.
This was a bad case of Cold Case... The part that set me off was how the writer made every character so skilled at reading lips. Give me a break!!!
I thought it was just a storyline. Nothing is as TV portrays anyone to be and the day they do will be the day TV dies...
It did upset me that the son got the CI at the end, but only because that was so predictable. Everytime a show is on the air and it features the topic of CI, the Deaf person in question ALWAYS gets one. Why can't a show be written where a person is happy with who he/she is and declines a CI.
There were a few other problems with the episode also. The son loses his hearing at 7years of age and just gives up talking completely? Maybe that would happen for a CODA, but it just seems unusual. Plus, he seems to hear well pretty quickly after getting the CI, it should have taken several months for that to occur. Lastly, the father okays the CI for the son without telling the mother--that seems pretty petty. Especially for a long-term couple that really loves each other and is close.
---Sange
mom to 6.5yo HOH son
I felt the show did not represent the Deaf Community. I was not at all happy with the episode.
Not all deaf people hate the concepts of cochlear implants. Some may be uncertain about it because they're afraid ASL and Deaf Culture will eventually disappear.
The reason is because Deaf people with cochlear implants are usually from hearing families who do not know ASL and are not a part of Deaf Culture. So, I believe that's one of the reasons why there is that negativity towards the cochlear implant.
Think about it, who implants the children? Audiogolists, right? And 95 % of the time, they do not know ASL and if they know sign language, its usually a sign code such as SEE-2 which is NOT a language. They have no clue about deaf culture. So how can they truly educate and expose hearing parents?
I think that's the key- if a child gets an implant, ASL and Deaf Culture HAS to go hand in hand. Deaf children needs to develop langauge RIGHT away through ASL, not through Spoken English. That can come later if necessary.
So I think that's why the majority of deaf people have issues with it. Plus they may not understand why there is the urgency to 'hear'. Deafness is not a handicap. So therefore, why fit it? I am hard of hearing myself. So I struggle daily with the identity- am I deaf or hearing. But one thing is certain, I could never get an implant. For me, it just feels too invasive.
Another issue I had with the episode was that the Dean didn't sign in front of the deaf parents when talking to the cops. Where was the interpreter? Hello? Plus, she was way too personally involved. I was very happy though she said that ASL is a emotive language! PAH!
I am sure I have other problems with the episode but I can't think of them off the top of my head. I plan to write to CBS and give them my beef.
Well, that's that.
Cold Case TV Show is an American police procedural television series revolving around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in investigating cold cases. The series first aired in September 2003 on CBS.
I might be a little late on commenting but this episode was very disappointing. And some comments made on here are wrong. First thing first, CIs are not performed by audiologist, it is a surgery done by a surgeon, ENT. An audiologist turns on and programs the CI, which is not turned on until on average 6 weeks after implantation (no way he could hear the same week), and then takes some of auditory training to understand. Next the show talked about candidacy. Carlos being born deaf does not mean was a good one, and Andy have meningitis means he he most likely lost his hearing because his cochlea ossified, thus making it so he would not be a likely candidate. One comment about teaching ASL to an new young CI and speech can come later, that would be irresponsible. Children need that speech early in life to really be successful, it is more of a use it or lose it process or just years of speech therapy. And a comment saying homework needs to be done about deaf of deaf? Deafness can be inherited. All in all, I wish that the writers would have done their research with more depth. As far as making the deaf culture look bad, lighten up, it is a murder mystery show.
I just watched this episode for the first time last night. I was shocked at some of the major errors as others have already pointed out. I have had my CI for two years now and am only now getting comfortable and enjoying listening to music again. These are SPEECH processors, not music processors as my audiologist said, so music is the last thing to come for all of us implantees. Yes, there was intensive therapy at first since I could not even distinguish my own name for two weeks after the implant was turned on. I could not even follow the words of a children's book on tape even though I had the book in front of me. However, now I have borderline hearing in that ear and am one of the more successful implantees. For them to say Carlos was not a candidate because he was born deaf was inaccurate. He wasn't a candidate because he didn't have a functioning audio nerve or perhaps a damaged cochlear. I, too, was born deaf, but I wore two hearing aids from the age of two and kept that nerve alive even though I continued to lose hearing all my life. The third thing was when Emilee asked Andy if he wanted to hear the snowflakes again. Hear snowflakes?? I can now hear rain falling on objects, but snowflakes? Come on!!!! Oh one more thing, you notice how much hair Andy had around the implant site??? Gee, my hair has just now gotten back to where it was before the surgery!!! No way he had that much hair in just a week! Heck, I still had staples in my scalp at that time! Hollywood do your research!!!!
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