Deaf Characters and Deafness in Science Fiction
By: Harry G. Lang and Robert F. Panara
In this article, Lang and Panara looked at the portrayal of deafness in science fiction. They say, “A glimpse into the “future” of deaf persons from the perspectives of past and present science fiction writers reveals both the prophetic qualities of the genre as well as how it serves as a mirror of today’s society”. Science fiction seems to focus on many of the myths associated with deafness and explores them and sometimes continues them instead of defying them. In Mother and Child by Joan D. Binge, deafness is seen as a punishment. This provides a mirror for what parts of our society believes. Many parents believe that they are being punished when they find out that their child is deaf. This of course is not the case. It is not right for books to continue to promote this belief. Another myth is portrayed in Silence is Deadly by Lloyd Biggle. In this book, lipreading is very easy for deaf people. In reality, yes deaf individuals are able to lipread, but the majority of this is made up of guessing. Hearing people actually are better at lipreading than deaf individuals. While talking about ASL (American Sign Language) portrayal in science fiction, Lang and Panara say, “the genre typically deals with diverse races of beings having strange and unexpected languages”. It is as if they are classifying ASL as being “weird”. It is important to be accepting of the different language of deaf individuals and not think of it as weird. It is just different. If books keep promoting myths instead of defying them, our world will never truly be able to accept deafness.
Lang, Harry, G.; Panara, Robert F. (1989). Deaf Characters and Deafness in Science Fiction. The Deaf American, 39(3). https://ritdml.rit.edu/dspace/handle/1850/1335
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