Photo courtesy of ABC Family

During the January 3 premiere episode of Switched at Birth, Starry Night, Bay told Emmett toward the end of the show that she can’t mentally check out when she wants to. This is a crucial moment that shows how hearing people aren’t always able to “turn off” the outside world. It’s much like a Deaf person being ultra-sensitive to movement – it distracts them from being able to fully pay attention to conversations.

As a hard-of-hearing person, this scene was particularly interesting to me because I can relate to both deaf and hearing individuals. If I want to completely check out and ignore all that is happening around me, I simply turn off my hearing aids. I’ve never thought about it much from a hearing perspective, and it’s truly interesting how the show is able to depict the viewpoints of both Deaf and hearing people.

The latest episode of Switched at Birth, The Tempest, shown on January 10, heavily focuses on the hearing perspective; one that I strongly believe is equal to the Deaf perspective, and necessary to show. This is demonstrated clearly by showing a significant language barrier between Melody and Bay, as well as subtle hints of cultural discrepancies.

In regard to the language barrier between Melody and Bay, the viewer is exposed to the hearing perspective, and how they feel when they are left out or belittled. Unfortunately, a number of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people are guilty of consciously leaving hearing people out of conversations and exploiting the ability to sign.

I admit I have done this from time to time. Is this wrong? Definitely!

There’s really no excuse for this, and it needs to be changed on a cultural level. Ostracizing hearing members who legitimately want to socialize with Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals is something I frown upon – cultural assimilation should be about meshing, not excluding.

This brings me to my next point – the medical point of view. With respect to the cultural discrepancies on the show, the issue is rooted in the sensitivity of speech therapy for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. The seeds were planted in an episode shown last summer where Emmett spoke. This raised a valid concern among Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals – is the show legitimizing the use of speech over the preservation of ASL?

Nonetheless, it’s interesting how Melody tells the story about what Deaf parents typically tell their children about speech therapy. I think back to what my Deaf father told me about his speech therapy horror stories. While I think back to my speech therapy experience, I realize I was fortunate to have had excellent speech therapists that made speech therapy fun.

I realize that this isn’t the case for everyone and combined with the perception that speech therapy is not necessary due to ASL being our primary language, the medical point of view that says speech therapy is necessary still generates much distaste throughout the Deaf community.

Purple Digital Media Coordinator Corey Axelrod is a regular contributor to the Purple Blog. Corey’s views and opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Purple Communications. Watch for more reviews as Switched at Birth season two continues! Follow Corey on Twitter @coreyaxelrod.