Many people (not all) seem to miss the importance of inclusion. If you're not a minority in any sense, then I can see why sometimes this idea may elude you. However, this does not excuse you from trying to understand a minority's point of view. You may not completely agree or be able to put yourselves in our shoes but I do hope you can respect where we are coming from.
Chick -fil- a's and Target's most recent commercials are ones I'd like to applaud. It's not everyday you see a Deaf person signing their native language on TV much less in a commercial! My heart is always bigger when I see that. Representation matters!
For the last (maybe 10 years or so) filmmakers have been adding more POC characters. However, in the Deaf world we are still seen as insignificant and/or easily replaceable. What do I mean by this? There have been many cases where a film writer has a Deaf character in the film and the casting director seems to think it's perfectly fine to hire a HEARING actor to play a DEAF role. Would you cast a white person to play a role of a Chinese-American? I certainly hope not.
What people many times don't realize is that being Deaf is tied to a culture not just "hearing loss." We have a language and social rules/guidelines. What might be rude in the hearing work is perfectly acceptable in the Deaf world and vice versa. Each country has it's own sign language (for the most part). Some countries might adopt another country's sign language because it's small or have a similar cultures.
Seeing other people like me in books, on TV or in a store helps self-esteem and overall, just makes you realize you're not alone.
Thank you, Chick-fil-a and Target!
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