Installment 3 rework

Throughout the history of literature and character representation, people with disabilities were
portrayed in three ways; as the villain, the catalyst for the abled main character or second fiddle, and
the pity case. These representations of characters with disabilities are what has become the stereotype
of disabled people in literature. For example, Shakespeares Richard III is portrayed as a hunchback with
a shriveled hand, and he is also the villain of the play. Today, the term hunchback has been medically
termed as Scoliosis. According to history, during the time of Shakespeare, seeing a person with a
disability was rare, mostly because they didnt survive infancy or childhood, and also because they were
kept hidden away. During this era, disability was seen as a punishment from God for some sin
committed, usually on the part of the parents. In this case they were used in literature as an example to
be learned from. Fear of persons with disabilities was also common during this time as there was little
scientific knowledge about what makes a body disabled. In light of these factors, this fear lasted for
many decades.
Up until the 1980s, characters with disabilities were either something to be feared, pitied, or
learned from, sometimes all at once. Today, as a result of Disability Studies, character portrayal of
persons with disabilities is moving away from fearful, pitiable, and learned from cases to characters that
are whole. By whole I mean the character is first and foremost a person, the disability plays a
secondary role as part of what makes that character unique. Characters with disabilities are also striving
to move towards acceptance in some form, of their disability. While this is coming more into vogue, the
old stereotypes still exist and can be seen not only in literature, but in films and television as well. Part
of the reason why the same portrayals/stereotypes of persons with disabilities exist is that they are
written by authors who themselves do not have the disability they are writing about, nor do they
understand how such a person could live a normal life without feeling regret for what they dont have.
This usually results with the disabled characters having conflicting attitudes towards their situations;

some of these stereotypes portray that the disabled characters sole goal is to become normal even if
they were born with a condition. This is especially true in media and literature portrayals of the d/Deaf
and hard of hearing.
If a character is deaf or hard of hearing, then shouldnt the author have the same experiences?
Questions like this are part of what Disability Studies is trying to address in literature today. Because
able-bodied hearing people have written stories about the d/Deaf and hard of hearing, the portrayal
created has usually been that of pityhow horrible it must be to not be able to hear!while this is the
case for people who have lost their hearing suddenly, it is not the case for people who are born d/Deaf.
Put simply, if they have never experienced sound, they are not going to miss it. Disability Studies
scholars are pushing for people with disabilities to write their own stories and experiencesthey must
name and claim so that character portrayal of people with disabilities can be accurate and positive.
The reason for changing character portrayal in literature are many, but the most common one is to
break the current stereotypes, but also to point out that the way a character is represented, disabled or
not, it has an impact on how real people with or without disabling conditions are viewed by society. One
positive example concerning the d/Deaf and hard of hearing is the television show Switched at Birth.
In the show, the character of Daphne is Deaf; she uses sign language, but she also wears hearing aids
and has command of speech. The show portrays Daphne as Deaf, and while that deafness is a part of her
identity, it is not all she is as she is also portrayed to have a talent for both basketball and cooking. The
point being that deafness is not portrayed as a disability. Another positive portrayal of a deaf character
that I found was in Virginia M. Scotts Belonging. The first work I read was Virginia M. Scotts Belonging,
where 15 year old Gustie loses her hearing over the summer to meningitis. The book chronicles her loss
as it moves from mild until she is completely deaf and how she learns to cope with her newfound
deafness after being a hearing person for most of her life. I decided to use this book as one of my
sources because it accurately described what it is like to have a hearing loss, and reinforced some of the

experiences I have had as a person with a hearing loss. This book was written in the first person point of
view, and also portrayed Gusties character growth as someone who at first doesnt have any disability
to one who has a hearing loss and hates it, to one who is deaf and has found a way to live with that
deafness and accept it as a new part of who she is. On the other hand, Suzanne Collins portrays deafness
and/or hearing loss as a tragedy in her book The Hunger Games.
I had read Collins The Hunger Games before, so in the case of this thesis I did not need to reread it, but instead, found the chapter where Katniss loses her hearing and used what I had underlined
as possible examples for a character with a hearing loss. When I read The Hunger Games for the first
time, I was surprised to read that Katniss lost her hearing. I was not expecting that, and reading about a
character whose ears were ringing and who could not hear out of her left ear was instantly relatable to
me. The one fact about Katnisss hearing loss verses all of the other characters I read about, is that in
her case the hearing loss is portrayed as a tragic thing, following stereotypes of deaf and hard of hearing
people. However, given the situation that Katniss was in, it definitely was a hardship for her, having
always had perfect hearing and needing it because of her hunting skills. What caught my attention the
most when I read that chapter was the descriptions Collins used to describe how the sudden hearing
loss made Katniss feel. I cant adjust to deafness in the ear. It makes me feel off-balanced and
defenseless to my left. Blind even. (228) My initial reaction to that quote was Welcome to my world,
Katniss! I have had countless experiences of always having to adjust everything to the right side, where
my good ear is, since my left ear is the worse of the two. What I could also relate to with Katnisss
hearing loss, temporary as it was, was that the loss was in her left ear, where my loss is also greater.