Wednesday, Mar 3, 2021 • 16min
Representing Deafness in an Audio Medium
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Audio is also for d/Deaf/HOH people. In this short talk, Caroline explores their history as a deaf creator of a fiction podcast that represents deafness. They clear up misconceptions about d/Deafness and the critical importance of its inclusion in how you approach your audio work.
Transcript. (https://tinyurl.com/y4t8pjwd)
Cassie Josephs' guide to transcripts (https://discoverpods.com/podcast-accessible-transcripts/)
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Caroline Mincks
Transcript
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Caroline Mincks
00:00
Fiction informs reality and vice versa. Never has that been more apparent in my life than when I sat down at the age of 19, new to hearing loss and still raw and angry and scared about it and tried to vent these feelings by writing a one-actor play called In the Quiet.
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00:19
That story took on a lot of other forms and titles over the years. Several other drafts of stage plays, a screenplay, a novel, a comic book before finding its home in podcasting over a decade later and became the audio drama Seen and Not Heard.
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00:35
My name is Caroline Mincks. And if my presence in the podcasting world as a deaf person surprises you, I invite you to sit with me for a bit and listen to or read this talk.
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00:45
For a little background about me, I've been acting since I was five and writing since, not long after I worked chiefly in theater as a performer, playwright and director before finding audio drama.
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00:57
In October of 2019, I released my first podcast and shortly after that I decided it was now or never. I wrote up a casting call and before I knew it, Seen and Not Heard was coming to life.
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01:10
Since its release, cena not Heard has been overwhelmingly well-received featured in publications such as The Bellow Collective, the Atlantic and The New York Times.
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01:20
I've been blown away by the response and deeply grateful for the support and for the fantastic conversations. It has sparked about inclusion and accessibility. You may be wondering why would deaf people have an interest in an audio medium in the first place?
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01:35
Well, the simplest answer is because we're people we're interested in podcasts for the same reason we're interested in all other media. We also love stories, we also enjoy interviews, we like to learn new things of course, some of the confusion about deaf people in podcasting, whether in production or as audience members may be coming from a misunderstanding about deafness itself.
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01:60
So let me clear up what I think is the biggest misconception toughness is not just a complete, entire lack of the ability to hear like anything else in the world, deafness exists on a spectrum ranging from mild hearing loss to profound deafness.
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02:18
I personally am seated pretty much right in the middle of the range and I'm considered moderately deaf.
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02:24
This is also why I use the term hard of hearing sometimes to describe myself. There's a difference too, between deaf with a capital D and with a lower case D. Lower case d-deaf indicates that someone is physically deaf but is not necessarily involved in deaf culture.
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02:40
If you see a capital D, that's someone who signs who is involved in the deaf community and culture and who lives in a more deaf way.
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02:49
Lower case d-deaf sometimes means people who are late-deafened like myself, but it can also include people who have been deaf much longer and been excluded from the culture and language often by their parents and school, That's a whole other issue I could talk more at length about and in the interest of not getting too off-topic, I'll leave it for now, but I highly encourage you to look for more information about language deprivation and other forms of assimilation forced upon deaf children.
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03:15
So now that we've got the basics out of the way, let's talk about why representation matters In the first place. As I said before, fiction informs reality and vice versa.
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03:27
The things we see in our media reflect the way we see them in real life and the way we approach things in real life will inevitably affect how we approach them creatively.
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03:35
Think of how many times you've read a book or watched a movie or listen to a podcast that introduced something entirely new to you, a new concept, a new word or maybe even a type of person you've had little to no interaction with in your daily life.
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03:50
That first impression is vital and the continued impressions that follow are equally important. I've had several people tell me that Seen and Not Heard was useful to them because they don't know any deaf people in real life.
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04:01
And I've had fellow deaf and hard of hearing people tell me that they felt a wave of relief upon finding the show because now they have something they can use to explain to others what their experience is like.
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04:14
I've also had people who are differently disabled than I am say things like, oh this is so familiar to me. This is so much like what I've been through as well and it feels good to see it understood everyone deserves to see themselves represented because everyone's story is important and that's not just about serving yourself.
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04:34
It is valuable to everyone and not only because of equality, but because the fiction we all consume has made so much richer with variety.
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04:44
Our world is made up of so very many types of people. Why would we ever want to limit ourselves to a strict selection or only ever look in the mirror when there are so many windows we could look through Instead.
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04:57
The big question now is how do we represent deafness in an audio medium?
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05:03
Accessibility comes first. There cannot be representation if the people you are representing cannot access your content. Build in an accessibility plan from day one of your podcast.
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05:18
What does that look like?
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05:20
Accessibility for deaf audience members means free clear transcripts that are easily found. Your transcript should be easy to read. Word perfect and provide enough descriptions that if someone were only reading, they'd still understand what was going on.
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05:35
My colleague, Cassie Josephs has an excellent guide for transcripts and I will provide the link in the show notes and transcript for this talk. There are some fantastic suggestions and guidelines that are simple to implement when it comes to podcasting.
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05:48
There's really not an industry standard for transcript formatting when I consult on or edit transcripts. What I'm looking to achieve is a well-written script with excellent stage directions, clear descriptions of music and sound effects, distinct tone indicators for lines where that's vital for comprehension and an easy-to-read format.
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06:07
Another great way to make your podcast accessible is through video though this requires a different skill set. Having a video where the captions appear in real-time is a great way to provide an audience with a clearer experience.
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06:19
One of my favorite audio dramas, Temujin has done just this and they have beautiful videos that make for an immersive experience.
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06:26
If you want to work with deaf or hard of hearing actors, designers, editors, consultants etcetera. You need to make sure that the work is accessible to them, ask upfront what they need. If anything being the one to initiate that conversation takes a lot of the pressure off disabled people have to self advocate a lot and it can be an exhausting and intimidating experience.
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06:49
Help do that lifting right from the start. Deaf actors may need assistance with soundproofing or mic checks as you can imagine being hard of hearing means sometimes I can't tell if there's some background noise or if my settings are right, take some time to work with your actors on this, get sample recordings of their setups and be ready to help them find solutions for any problems well in advance of recording.
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07:13
This is why flexible deadlines are also really important. You may have to accommodate for retakes if there are audio issues and in some cases fluctuating hearing, there are days when my own hearing is worse. And recording or editing on those days is a challenge.
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07:29
As much as you can offer soft deadlines a day to get a first draft of audio in and if it's usable great. But if it needs any fixing, you'll need a buffer, do yourself a favor and schedule that in early. If your podcast requires rehearsals, use a video platform that offers captions. Auto captions are hardly without their flaws, but they are helpful when it comes to following a conversation.
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07:53
My personal favorite way to rehearse is to have a text chat, only conversation about the material in any directions, then an audio rehearsal with the script and any follow-up or changes can be taken care of via text. There needs to be a clear policy about inclusion and instructions about who to speak to, if problems should arise.
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08:13
Don't forget to work in a solution for the event that the problem is about you. You can't always check yourself in these situations and you need an outside eye for accountability purposes. In addition, you also need a willingness to correct any language behavior or practices as necessary and a willingness to do the work and educate yourself on how to do better going forward.
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08:35
The more you commit to and implement good practices, the more natural it will become and the easier it will be, you may be thinking to yourself well that's way too much. But I still want to represent deafness in my show. Why don't I just hire hearing people to play deaf characters? Please do not.
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08:55
We have the life experience necessary to bring authenticity to a role in a way Hearing people simply do not. Yes. Even if they are a coder, a child of deaf adults. Yes, even if their best friend or their cousin or sibling or teacher is deaf, second-hand experience is not the same and will not resonate at best. At worst, it can lead to actively harmful representation.
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09:21
In addition, we are often denied opportunities to represent ourselves in favor of hearing actors being cast in our roles, which creates this false idea that deaf people are not interested in or are not available for this work by opening the door to us and allowing us to bring our own experience to your project. You help to level the playing field for disabled people and create a more equitable environment all around.
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09:46
Of course, now, the question becomes, how do you write deaf characters in the first place?
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09:52
If you aren't deaf or frankly, even if you are, it's important to remember that there is not one single deaf experience, disabled people are not a monolith or a hive mind.
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10:03
10 minutes on deaf Twitter would make that very clear. So with that in mind a few tips for creating deaf characters, here's the biggest thing, they can't just be the deaf one. If that's all you've got, if that's the first and our only way to describe the character, you're not finished creating them. Dive into them like you would any other character and give them a real personality, strengths, flaws, likes and dislikes, layers.
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10:32
People have layers. Remember the spectrum I mentioned earlier? Use that look into different causes of deafness as well and consider how to approach it from that angle and do keep in mind a lot of us have no idea what caused our hearing loss.
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10:48
In Seen and Not Heard allude to the protagonist bet dealing with a serious illness that caused her hearing loss, but I never name it or give much more information about it.
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10:57
I did this in order to satisfy the audiences natural curiosity about the cause, but kept it intentionally vague because the point of the story was not what she suffered, it's about what comes next.
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11:09
Speaking of suffering, avoid inspiration-porn or making it seem like losing one's hearing is akin to losing one's life.
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11:18
Disabled people don't only exist to inspire and many of us, not only adjust to our disabilities just fine, but thrive, not even despite them, but sometimes because of them, that still doesn't mean that we want to see characters who are only there to make able people feel better about themselves or their lot in life when creating a deaf character determine if they are culturally deaf or not.
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11:41
Before you start and decide how they will choose to communicate. Will they exclusively sign? Do they have an interpreter? Do they exclusively speak? Are they oral? But learning and use a combination? These are things to figure out early on.
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11:54
It will help you with scripting, casting and designing a design note here. deafness isn't just experiencing sound at a lower volume. Some people hear high tones better, Some hear low, some have great difficulty with speech.
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12:09
There's the issue of sound muffling and again, the spectrum. Tal Minear, my sound designer, for Seen and Not Heard spoke at length about how they created the soundscapes from deaf point of view. We had a lot of conversations about how to do this and we found lots of resources that showed what deafness actually sounds like. Definitely make sure you've done your research.
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12:29
If you plan on your podcast demonstrating the deaf experience from that perspective, be careful not to perpetuate false information about deafness, assistive technology and language, make sure you're using the correct terms and that you're not presenting assistive technology as a miracle cure. It simply doesn't work that way.
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12:47
And a lot of deaf people don't even use implants or hearing aids. It's a deeply personal decision or sometimes it's affected by the high cost of medical care.
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12:56
Look up how much generic hearing aids cost and note that at least in
the United States
they're generally not covered by health insurance
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13:04
Oh and lip-reading is not nearly the exact science you might think it is. If this seems like a lot to sort through, don't panic. There are people out there who can help you figure this out.
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13:16
I'm talking about consultants and sensitivity readers.
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13:19
It's really important not to rely on your actors to do that work for you unless you have also specifically hired them for it and they know going in that they'll be asked to consult and have agreed to do so. It's very important if you are not deaf or hard of hearing yourself to bring in someone who is to check over your work.
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13:35
I'd go so far as to say even if you are deaf or hard of hearing, this is a good idea. I had a deaf culture consultant and a script consultant for Seen and Not Heard and I had several conversations with people outside of the show entirely to make sure that I was representing a variety of deaf experiences in a more realistic way.
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13:53
There are times when it's appropriate to consult with your actors of course, for example, the role of Kit Sumner, the artist that meets in the last episode was modeled in many ways after their actor.
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14:04
This meant that we talked a lot about how to do that properly and I also ran everything by my consultants before making any final decisions about the character having sensitivity readers and consultants can not only prevent you from making avoidable mistakes. They can help enrich and strengthen your work greatly. Taking it from a pretty good effort to something that is powerful and accurately represents a marginalized group. Trust me: don't cut corners on this one.
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14:30
This may seem like a lot of information to take in at once and it is. Representation, proper rep, good rep, positive rep, it's not something that you can just conjure out of thin air without putting in the work.
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14:45
I don't say this to deter you. In fact just the opposite. I say this to encourage you. I believe I truly believe we can all do better. We can all take steps put in the work. Do the research, have the hard conversations humble ourselves and admit when we need help apologize and fix it when we've done something wrong.
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15:07
And in doing all of these things we can create such beauty. We can all be a part of telling stories that if you'll pardon the expression, can make everyone feel seen and heard. Fiction informs reality and vice versa.
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15:26
Let's make them both better.
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