Facepalm: Deaf Choir on Glee

from www.motivatedphotos.com

I was so pleased with Glee's portrayals of people with special needs in the episode Wheels ... and then last night's episode thread about a competing Glee club from a Deaf school dripped patronizing treacle. Blech.

Meloukhia already wrote what I would write so I'll just quote (big lift, but it's a long post citing multiple fails, and this is from the end):

"Glee is finally allowing us to see the Deaf choir performing, I may have to give them some points for trying even though they are doing it very badly.

"And then, to my shock and horror, someone from the glee club started interrupting the Deaf choir to sing. Ok, now, I have not sung in a choir, but I consulted a real live person who has performed in choirs, and I was informed that, no, it is not actually conventional or acceptable to interrupt a choir while they are performing.

"Why was it ok here? How was it inspiring to watch the Deaf choir’s performance being interrupted and co-opted by the glee club? Because the Deaf choir were doing it wrong? Because “the poor impaired folk need normal people to fill in their defects,” as Lauredhel said when we were chatting about this episode?

"I wasn’t inspired or moved by watching the two choirs perform together. I was PISSED. Because it was framed as perfectly acceptable for the glee club to just jump in on another performance. And for this to turn into a Special Learning Experience, look at how they can all sing together and be happy! Yes, folks, totally erasing people with disabilities and not allowing them to perform is Inspiring! [emphasis mine -SR]

"The Deaf choir has been a running joke in this series. (Because everyone knows that Deaf folks can’t sing, or dance!) And now, in the scene where we finally had a chance to see them performing, they were treated with complete disrespect and condescension. They were framed as a failure, until the nice glee club came in and rescued them. But, you know, nice try, Deaf choir!

"Incidentally, check out Gallaudet Dance if you want to see actual Deaf people actually performing and being amazing in the process."

Note: I copied this post - sans Double Facepalm magic - from a comment I made on my original BlogHer Glee post.

New BlogHer Post: Choosing to Parent a Child With Special Needs

I might be holed up in a cute little studio at an off-season ski resort with vertigo-inducing views of the Carson Valley while my handsome husband mountain bikes the Tahoe Ridge Trail; I might be cursing extortionate internet access rates while praising my mother's timeshare sorcery in getting us this place for $35/night, but damn it, it's still a BlogHer Tuesday for me -- and that means a new post.

Today's foray is about choosing to parent, live, love, and work with our kids with special needs.

Mostly, I'm grateful for and humbled by the people who do it by choice, not because of some celestial travel agent's decision to send them to Holland instead of Italy. Not that we don't appreciate Holland. Pot is legal, after all, and I enjoy talking with Holland's denizens about why they are content, and have nothing against Italy, but it's not relevant to them.

The bulk of the BlogHer post is an interview with the foster parent of a Deaf teen who has oppositional-defiant disorder and other labels. That dad -- a friend from college -- is an amazing man, and reading what he has to say is worth your time.

I also talk about dropping Leo off at week-long sleepaway camp, and the palpable positive energy of the counselors there. I didn't talk about how I held it together, didn't cry until I heard a radio commentator describe Euna Lee's reunion with her daughter while I drove away from my son. I'm choosing to tell you that here, now, in my personal blog.