What Hawkeye Gets Right | Disability Representation in Media

Hawkeye surprised me with its Disability Representation. It gets across a message we rarely see in media representation of disability. So let's take a look at how common portrayals and what Hawkeye gets right that many don't.

I also recommend watching this video by Jessica Kellgreen-Fozard (who is Deaf and Disabled and just awesome):

And another Deaf creator:

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⌚ Chapters
0:00 Maya in Hawkeye
1:22 How Media Portrays Disability
5:15 Disability Doesn't Need a "Cure"
12:25 Deaf Culture & Disability Pride
16:30 Why This Matters

📚 SOURCES & RELATED READING 📚

#Hawkeye #Disability #MCU

Channel Art by @enbodie

[Felipera_]

In the architecture world there is something we call "the curb cut effect", where stuff made to help people with some sort of disability ends up helping everyone, like curb cuts being useful for moms with strollers, bikers, the elderly, blind people, etc

[thescowlingschnauzer]

Once I went to a Deaf church with a friend who works as an interpreter. There was so much conversation with NO NOISE. With sign language, people could converse from across the auditorium, converse thru glass windows, and cross-talk in ways that would have been a cacophony if they had been speaking vocally. Having that experience for the first time was, frankly, euphoric for me as a hearing person who happens to be sensitive to noise.

[spooked_glitch]

The thing I love about Hawkeye having hearing aids and being HoH is the story of why it's that way - a little boy who had bright blue hearing aids and didn't like wearing them was a massive Hawkeye fan, his parents wrote to the writers of the comic and they made Hawkeye HoH specifically to help the little boy learn to love his hearing aids

[TheGhostiestHatRack]

No one should be shamed for wanting to stay the way they are and no one should be shamed for wanting to change

[ActualFandom]

"Where does the suffering come from? If it's society, we should fix that" PREACH

[hayleymargaret]

What's funny about sign language is that it uses the same section of the brain as verbal language.

[thatonepossum]

Man, that kid on the ‘House’ episode looked like a teenager. Teenagers aren’t geniuses, but they sure as heck can decide if they don’t want a machine stuck in their brains. The idea of a parent making that decision for an older kid who can clearly express that they don’t want that is _horrifying_ .

[zhymonspuzzle]

"Noone should have to feel like a failure just because they can't live up to expectations that were designed without them in mind." Somehow, this feels lifechanging to hear. This has been characterizing my life and I just really needed to hear that.

The video is amazingly well-written. Thank you.

[costelinha]

I really didn't knew hearing implants were so complicated like that. Also I agree here, why SHOULDN'T a child learn both Sign and Verbal language? why not? The way I see it, the more languages, the more ways to communicate, the better.

[bread]

I just wanted to say that deaf doesn't mean cannot hear at all. That is actually called profoundly deaf. Some people like to identify specifically as hard of hearing, but largely they are also considered deaf. Deaf means that you have lost part of your hearing. My brother only lost hearing in one ear, but he is still as deaf as my cousins, whom have lower percentages of hearing in both ears.

[Pikeya]

There are studies that show teaching hearing babies sign language actually helps them pick up verbal language better and quicker. Plus it might be easier for a distressed child to sign instead of speak if overwhelmed.

[PokemonkaDub]

What I hate the most is when people say "oh this character is an awesome empowering disabled rep!" and then show me a character who's an amputee with a cybernetic prostethic that makes them even stronger than average human. The robo arm/leg is ofcorse 100% functioning like an organic limb making them just "look edgier and cooler". So I'm just annoyed with using disability as an aesthetic choice.

[Just_a_rabbit]

as someone who has a disability and has been actively told just to not have it infront of someone? that kind of thing does hurt and i like having disability representation and acceptance like this even if its not the same stuff i have most the time

[kyokoyumi]

5:35 Lmfao the subtitles said "WAH LAA" instead of voila which is just peak considering the context of the video

As someone with basically half a face (hard of hearing and only peripheral vision on the left), I appreciate this video :)

Also these musical based transitions. Yes.

[burrahobbit]

I really loved Hawkeye as a person who is also somewhat newly hearing impaired. I especially loved the conversation between Clint and Maya about being "hard of hearing" vs "Deaf." I am less impaired than the character Clint, but I very proactively tell people that I am deaf, and I really appreciated how these distinctions were shown in the series. I'm often told that I should get hearing aids, and even though this comment almost always comes from a place of love it also usually makes me angry.

I also found the interactions between Clint and Kate to be very relatable and funny in a way that most people probably didn't. In most of my conversations (especially at work where there is a lot of background noise) I have to do a significant amount of guessing to figure out what the other person is saying. I'm not always right...

[rainbowrose]

also ASL is so useful for situations where you cant talk, or have to stay quiet. gossip in class? sign. need to communicate plans with someone across the room? dont get up, just sign. lost your voice due to sickness? sign.
im HOH and ive used ASL in all of these situations and it makes my life super convenient.

[savannahs]

I think Daredevil does a really good job showing the issues of hypersensitivity. Like, he has to learn to process even more information and it's brutal for him. As someone with a sensory processing issues, it was great to see that covered

[SpikeMatthews]

Oh gods, I needed to watch this.
I'm a 55 year-old guy who has finally realised the probability of my being ADHD/autistic. Up til now - well, a few years ago when everything just collapsed - I'd managed to pass myself off as 'normal', with a bunch of 'quirks' that were assumed by everybody (me included) to be "that's just the way he is." I'm now finally on a waiting list to be officially tested and diagnosed, and still it's difficult for people to adjust their mindsets and grasp what this new information means to me. Even my GP got the wrong end of the stick when she told me that there is no cure for it. I know that, and I don't want one. I just want some help to live with it in a new kind of normal.

[chrismoore]

The rebuttal to "Echo's" argument in chastising Hawkeye for over-rely on technology as a crutch to bypass his disability; even to the point of being hostile because of it. Is not up to her to decide what's best for him (even if it's done for dramatic effect).

[cbunny]

They have to sign contracts to not teach sign language? Oh my god that is SO predatory. They're basically signing them to a forced prescription.

In my opinion everyone should learn sign language, not just hearing impaired people, EVERYONE. It should be a required subject in schools.