Jews Don’t Count: A Times Book of the Year 2021

* A very clear indication of this was spelled out in a Guardian interview in 2021 with the deaf actress Marlee Matlin, which ended with her saying: ‘Enough is enough. Deaf is not a costume. It’s not authentic and insults the community that you’re portraying. Because we exist, we deaf actors. We do a much better job of portraying characters, telling stories that involve deaf characters, because we lived it. We know it.’ Matlin’s point is still to some extent about employment – about those job opportunities for deaf roles going to deaf actors – but ringing out even more clearly is the sense – deaf is not a costume – that a hearing actor playing deaf is essentially an impression of a deaf person, and an impression of a deaf person by someone who can hear feels, to the deaf, insulting.