Actress Marlee Matlin, who won an Academy Award for her role in “Children of a Lesser God” and currently stars in “The L Word” on Showtime, will appear on “Dancing with the Stars.” Matlin is deaf.

A scan of the headlines finds an absence of person-first language:

USA Today: ‘Deaf Matlin dances in Mills’ footsteps on next round of ‘Dancing”

ABC News: ‘Deaf actress to ‘Dance with the Stars’

The ABC story places the news about Matlin into the broader context of dance within the deaf community. An excerpt:

Matlin’s selection is a breakthrough for the hearing impaired, who say they are more often stigmatized by misconceptions than by their own limitations.

Experts say learning to dance requires all the senses — not just hearing, but sight, touch and rhythm.

Dance troupes at two of the largest universities that serve the deaf — Gallaudet in Washington, D.C. and Rochester Institute for Technology in New York — have been thriving for decades, performing to music for both hearing and nonhearing audiences.

About 30 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, and that is all that they have in common. They represent a wide range — those born profoundly deaf and others who suffered hearing loss as a result of illness or age.

Two or three children in 1,000 births have detectable hearing loss and half of all those older than 75 have hearing loss, according to the National Institute of Deafness.

Many in the deaf world say Matlin’s dancing might change how people view deafness, which they say is a strong, unique culture — not a disability.

Among the other contestants: Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi. It’s been widely reported that this top-ranked figure skater also has ties to the world of disability. She was born with club foot, which was treated when she was a child. Photo here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 10:25 am and is filed under celebrities, club foot, deaf/hard of hearing, entertainment, television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post