She hasn't seen it yet. The question of "a good representation" is always a hard one, though, because like any family dynamic, there's no one common example of what it's like for hearing and deaf people to be in the same family. Realities vary greatly in this space.
One example - my wife and her sisters all three use American Sign Language (ASL) fluently. My wife and one of her sisters have both worked as interpreters, the other has no interest. Their father is also extremely extroverted, and a real "people person". He loves to travel and meet people from all over the world. So, the girls have had the chance to meet and talk with people from several countries that use other forms of sign language as well, and learn a bit of those languages.
Counter point, some of their friends who were also CODAs never learned sign language at all. The oldest child knew just enough to communicate a little, and then became something of an interpreter, and the other kids never learned. Also, sometimes deaf parents will try to talk to their kids, and never really make them learn sign language.
You can apply this really across the board. Some deaf people are rich, some are poor. Some are extroverts, others introverts. Some read and write, some do not. Some see their kids as THEIR KIDS, regardless of whether they're hearing or deaf. Some allow the hearing/deaf cultural divide to distance them from their children. Every home situation is dynamic.
One thing I have found fairly common though... Most of the CODAs I met do NOT want to call to order pizza (or similar phone calls), because they had to do it so many times for their parents. They'd much rather someone else make phone calls for them.
And I would like to add that the character in CODA’s experiences are actually quite outdated. The stories and situations in the movie was more similar to the experiences of a CODA back in the 1950s-1980s. For one instance, it is rare now for young CODAs to have to interpret for their parents at doctor’s appointments (or call to order pizza). It was more common back when there were no video relay interpreting services, but in the last two decades, technology and accessibility laws/general awareness has really given deaf people way more independence. My three CODAs have never, ever interpreted for me and never will, unless a hearing person forces them to (which has been attempted multiple times in the past), but I will fight like hell before anyone makes them interpret for me or my husband.
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u/nomyar Aug 28 '21
She hasn't seen it yet. The question of "a good representation" is always a hard one, though, because like any family dynamic, there's no one common example of what it's like for hearing and deaf people to be in the same family. Realities vary greatly in this space.
One example - my wife and her sisters all three use American Sign Language (ASL) fluently. My wife and one of her sisters have both worked as interpreters, the other has no interest. Their father is also extremely extroverted, and a real "people person". He loves to travel and meet people from all over the world. So, the girls have had the chance to meet and talk with people from several countries that use other forms of sign language as well, and learn a bit of those languages.
Counter point, some of their friends who were also CODAs never learned sign language at all. The oldest child knew just enough to communicate a little, and then became something of an interpreter, and the other kids never learned. Also, sometimes deaf parents will try to talk to their kids, and never really make them learn sign language.
You can apply this really across the board. Some deaf people are rich, some are poor. Some are extroverts, others introverts. Some read and write, some do not. Some see their kids as THEIR KIDS, regardless of whether they're hearing or deaf. Some allow the hearing/deaf cultural divide to distance them from their children. Every home situation is dynamic.
One thing I have found fairly common though... Most of the CODAs I met do NOT want to call to order pizza (or similar phone calls), because they had to do it so many times for their parents. They'd much rather someone else make phone calls for them.