Savannah Beach
Professor Debra Edgar
SPA 3471
10 December 2015
Final Reflection Paper: Switched at Birth In the television series Switched at Birth which is shown on ABC Family, actress Katie Leclerc plays one of the main characters named Daphne Paloma Vasquez. In the show, Daphne is a daughter to Regina Vasquez who is a single working-class mom. Soon, Daphne finds out that Regina is actually not her biological mother and that she was in fact switched with another baby at birth. A huge premise of this show is the fact that Daphne is also deaf. This happened to her because she contracted meningitis at a very young age. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, hearing disorder “make it hard, but not impossible to hear” while …show more content…
This show tries to incorporate ASL and even deaf or hard of hearing people be the actors and actresses in this show. This show shows some of the difficulties people who are hard of hearing or deaf have to deal with as well. In one episode, Daphne wants to become a doctor so when she is in college, she has to take a chemistry class with a professor who goes at a very fast pace. Because of this, she is not able to catch everything that the professor is teaching and she is starting to fail the class. The professor even told Daphne that maybe she should actually rethink becoming a doctor due to her disability and though Daphne was upset about this, she decided to work even harder and she even hired someone to translate what the professor was saying into American Sign Language for her. Many times people who are deaf in real life tend to be looked down upon or are labeled as stupid just because of their disability when in fact they are just as capable and maybe even smarter than what people believe to think. This show tries to show just that and how people can stereotype others because of their disability. Though this is a negative, the show also shows how people who are deaf can have normal functioning lives and that they go through just a regular person does throughout their …show more content…
Throughout the whole show, several conversations happen in full American Sign Language when talking to one another. They actually hired actors and actresses who were actually deaf or hard of hearing to portray these characters who have this disability within the show. A huge first part of the show is the fact that Daphne went to a deaf school named Carlton so she was able to interact with other teenagers who were deaf as well. When she went onto college, though, she had a hard time adjusting because she went to a hearing college that had a program for deaf students. She wanted to become a doctor so she took chemistry and the professor taught and talked so fast that she was not able to keep up which was starting to cause her to fail the class. Daphne was often misunderstood with the abilities she had and was often times looked down upon. Though with the help of her family and friends she was able to show others her true potential and that she, in fact, can do the same things that hearing people can
Professor Debra Edgar
SPA 3471
10 December 2015
Final Reflection Paper: Switched at Birth In the television series Switched at Birth which is shown on ABC Family, actress Katie Leclerc plays one of the main characters named Daphne Paloma Vasquez. In the show, Daphne is a daughter to Regina Vasquez who is a single working-class mom. Soon, Daphne finds out that Regina is actually not her biological mother and that she was in fact switched with another baby at birth. A huge premise of this show is the fact that Daphne is also deaf. This happened to her because she contracted meningitis at a very young age. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, hearing disorder “make it hard, but not impossible to hear” while …show more content…
This show tries to incorporate ASL and even deaf or hard of hearing people be the actors and actresses in this show. This show shows some of the difficulties people who are hard of hearing or deaf have to deal with as well. In one episode, Daphne wants to become a doctor so when she is in college, she has to take a chemistry class with a professor who goes at a very fast pace. Because of this, she is not able to catch everything that the professor is teaching and she is starting to fail the class. The professor even told Daphne that maybe she should actually rethink becoming a doctor due to her disability and though Daphne was upset about this, she decided to work even harder and she even hired someone to translate what the professor was saying into American Sign Language for her. Many times people who are deaf in real life tend to be looked down upon or are labeled as stupid just because of their disability when in fact they are just as capable and maybe even smarter than what people believe to think. This show tries to show just that and how people can stereotype others because of their disability. Though this is a negative, the show also shows how people who are deaf can have normal functioning lives and that they go through just a regular person does throughout their …show more content…
Throughout the whole show, several conversations happen in full American Sign Language when talking to one another. They actually hired actors and actresses who were actually deaf or hard of hearing to portray these characters who have this disability within the show. A huge first part of the show is the fact that Daphne went to a deaf school named Carlton so she was able to interact with other teenagers who were deaf as well. When she went onto college, though, she had a hard time adjusting because she went to a hearing college that had a program for deaf students. She wanted to become a doctor so she took chemistry and the professor taught and talked so fast that she was not able to keep up which was starting to cause her to fail the class. Daphne was often misunderstood with the abilities she had and was often times looked down upon. Though with the help of her family and friends she was able to show others her true potential and that she, in fact, can do the same things that hearing people can