Deaf Event Book Report

SL Deaf Event Quarter 1

For my first quarter Deaf Event, I read the book I'll Scream Later by Marlee Matlin. The book reflects on the highs and lows of Marlee's life from the time she was a young child, up until a few years before she joined Switched at Birth, one of her more famous roles among modern times. The cause of Marlee's deafness is still unknown. One theory that Marlee used to believe was that she became Deaf after contracting a viral infection as a baby, although she later learned that particular infection cannot cause deafness. As a child Marlee wore hearing aids and attended speech classes, learning to read lips and speak. At age 5 she began to take ASL classes as well. When it came time for Marlee to attend school, her

David Kelley used to call my eyes my weapon of choice in front of the camera. My eyes are my ears and I put that into my work." In class we often discuss and use the facial expression part of deaf culture. In all the time we have spent using it I had never thought about how Deaf people can really use that to show themselves, and especially while acting. Marlee was able to use not just facial expressions but her eyes to talk when not using sign or words. Previously for a Deaf Event I have read the book Deaf Child Crossing by Marlee Matlin. I found it nteresting to notice some aspects in this book about Marlee that are similar in the main character Megan from Deaf Child Crossing. Marlee herself had a sign put in her neighborhood that said "Caution: Deaf Child Crossing" as well as both her and Megan's love for the color purple. It was cool to find connections between both books. I would highly recommend this book for other ASL students. It was a book that I really enjoyed and loved reading. It was really interesting to me to see the things Marlee had to overcome as a kid, and even as an adult in Hollywood. She was often battling criticism not only from the hearing community, but strongly from the Deaf