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leigh_ann_15_deaf 's review for:
Six
by M.M. Vaughan
Deaf reader reviewing books with deaf characters.
I really enjoyed this novel in general, but this is also one of the better representations of a deaf character I've seen. Let's get into it:
The author thanks many people, though it's unclear whether any of them are deaf. I'm going to assume at least one person involved in writing this is deaf, given how well Emma turns out.
The story starts off with a bit of worldbuilding, courtesy of Parker (12), who "looks out" for his sister Emma (10). But it's mentioned and shown multiple times throughout the book that Emma doesn't need much looking out for. Emma was born with a damaged auditory nerve, so she's never heard a sound.
Important to know is that Parker and Emma are British. They moved to the U.S. for their father's job, and are attending a school with a deaf unit attached. This basically means it's a mainstream school with a signing deaf program, so that's why Parker and Emma attend the same school. When this is first mentioned, quite a few questions ran through my head:
- Is Emma signing BSL or ASL? If the latter, how did she learn?
- Parker does know some signed language, but I'm presuming that's BSL. When Parker teaches Michael signs, is he showing him BSL or ASL?
- Since Emma would have had to learn ASL to attend the deaf program at this school, did Parker and Dad also learn ASL?
It is mentioned at one point that there is a difference between British Sign Language (BSL) and American Sign Language (ASL)--which is news to Parker, for some reason. But it does indicate that Parker only knows BSL, and has not learned any ASL alongside his sister. Emma is obviously having to learn ASL at this school in order to understand classes and have a social life, but it's definitely concerning that no one seems to have known before arrival that she would be learning ASL. When enrolling Emma, surely they would have mentioned or discussed this, but it's never brought up in the book. Which leads to having more questions, these unanswered:
- How well is Emma communicating with her friends in the program, and how they are teaching her?
- Is she on a special language track, apart from her peers until she is able to follow lectures?
- Are they providing a BSL interpreter or CART for classes until she becomes proficient in ASL on her own time or at a specific time slot (after school or morning tutoring, etc.)?
I wish the author had been a little more in-depth about the logistics behind Emma's language use.
Here's some accurate stuff:
- Emma is proudly unique, and doesn't feel she has a disability. Culturally Deaf people in particular feel this way, and many non-culturally deaf people as well.
- Quote: "The reaction of people finding out that Emma was deaf was always different. Most of the time people took it well, though they often had a tendency to then just ignore Emma, which annoyed them both. Sometimes–rarely–people would look horrified and make their excuses, and sometimes–as Michael did now–they would start to shout."
- Towards the end, Michael tries to sign her name, and ends up spelling EMMD. Excellent portrayal of a person just starting out! Mistakes happen often. It's not clear, however, if he is signing BSL or ASL, but it is a little strange because A and D don't look at all alike in either signed alphabet. I won't say it's inaccurate because I've seen stranger mix-ups!
- At one point, Emma wears an "eye-watering" mix of fluorescent colors to school. Not very sign friendly, but I am very much guilty of wearing loud colors and designs, much to my interpreters' misfortunes.
- Apparently Emma "can't" talk. Granted, this observation was made by an ableist man or two, and it's very much accurate to how many hearing people perceive deaf people. The concept of "deaf-mute" is very pervasive, and very misleading. At no point in this book does Emma speak, but presumably she can actually speak if she had oral training/speech therapy, or if she later chooses to get it.
An interesting thing about this novel is that the Banks family have a wrist device called "Ears for Emma" (E.F.E., or Effie). The device translates electrical impulses created by thoughts into audible speech for Parker and his parents to hear through an implanted microphone, and into subtitles that Emma can read using specially designed glasses. (Basically, it's a cell phone, but for thoughts instead of voices, and with a limited range.) Yay accessibility! Effie allows the family to communicate without speaking or signing.
It's mentioned that in the past, Dad had tried to expand Effie to pick up on sounds around Emma, but the mic couldn't distinguish voices and ambient noises, resulting in gibberish. (Good parallel to hearing aids.) Emma requested the idea be discarded, and the family never brought it up again. That's the appropriate reaction! If a deaf member of a family says some accommodation doesn't work, it's time to stop trying with that one and move on to one that does work for the deaf person, not what the hearing family thinks is best or most convenient.
Less accurate things:
- The conversations between Michael and Emma are a bit confusing. She is obviously lipreading, but she's responding in sign, and somehow Michael is "grasping her meaning." Parker sometimes explicitly translates, so I suppose one could assume he's constantly playing interpreter? It would have been nice if Michael had pulled out his phone or a pencil and paper so they could write back and forth.
- Emma can lipread. Apparently with no issues. She follows spoken dialog between an old woman and one of her kidnappers with perfect ease. Strange that accents, mouth shapes, teeth, etc. don't seem to play any part here.
- She can also read the tiny print subtitles flashing across her glasses lens at the same time she's fake screaming/crying and looking around. Talk about multitasking! This is necessarily inaccurate--but when I was ten I could barely keep my balance when I walked, let alone cry, read, and look around all at once.
Bonus rep: an old woman who is hard of hearing answers the phone and has trouble understanding Parker, who is disguising his voice with a voice changer. She misunderstands Solomon Gladstone as Benjamin Gladstone, which is accurate. People sometimes miss one or two syllables, and try to put it together with the syllable(s) they have. What's happened here is she missed "Solo" and heard "mon," knew from context that it was a name, and came up with a common name ending in the "muhn" sound: Benjamin! Parker has to repeat himself once or twice throughout the short conversation.
Overall, a good representation of a deaf character who is treated with respect and who has autonomy.
Link to ranked list of deaf characters in fiction: https://modcast.blog/2022/12/17/ranked-deaf-characters-in-fiction/
I really enjoyed this novel in general, but this is also one of the better representations of a deaf character I've seen. Let's get into it:
The author thanks many people, though it's unclear whether any of them are deaf. I'm going to assume at least one person involved in writing this is deaf, given how well Emma turns out.
The story starts off with a bit of worldbuilding, courtesy of Parker (12), who "looks out" for his sister Emma (10). But it's mentioned and shown multiple times throughout the book that Emma doesn't need much looking out for. Emma was born with a damaged auditory nerve, so she's never heard a sound.
Important to know is that Parker and Emma are British. They moved to the U.S. for their father's job, and are attending a school with a deaf unit attached. This basically means it's a mainstream school with a signing deaf program, so that's why Parker and Emma attend the same school. When this is first mentioned, quite a few questions ran through my head:
- Is Emma signing BSL or ASL? If the latter, how did she learn?
- Parker does know some signed language, but I'm presuming that's BSL. When Parker teaches Michael signs, is he showing him BSL or ASL?
- Since Emma would have had to learn ASL to attend the deaf program at this school, did Parker and Dad also learn ASL?
It is mentioned at one point that there is a difference between British Sign Language (BSL) and American Sign Language (ASL)--which is news to Parker, for some reason. But it does indicate that Parker only knows BSL, and has not learned any ASL alongside his sister. Emma is obviously having to learn ASL at this school in order to understand classes and have a social life, but it's definitely concerning that no one seems to have known before arrival that she would be learning ASL. When enrolling Emma, surely they would have mentioned or discussed this, but it's never brought up in the book. Which leads to having more questions, these unanswered:
- How well is Emma communicating with her friends in the program, and how they are teaching her?
- Is she on a special language track, apart from her peers until she is able to follow lectures?
- Are they providing a BSL interpreter or CART for classes until she becomes proficient in ASL on her own time or at a specific time slot (after school or morning tutoring, etc.)?
I wish the author had been a little more in-depth about the logistics behind Emma's language use.
Here's some accurate stuff:
- Emma is proudly unique, and doesn't feel she has a disability. Culturally Deaf people in particular feel this way, and many non-culturally deaf people as well.
- Quote: "The reaction of people finding out that Emma was deaf was always different. Most of the time people took it well, though they often had a tendency to then just ignore Emma, which annoyed them both. Sometimes–rarely–people would look horrified and make their excuses, and sometimes–as Michael did now–they would start to shout."
- Towards the end, Michael tries to sign her name, and ends up spelling EMMD. Excellent portrayal of a person just starting out! Mistakes happen often. It's not clear, however, if he is signing BSL or ASL, but it is a little strange because A and D don't look at all alike in either signed alphabet. I won't say it's inaccurate because I've seen stranger mix-ups!
- At one point, Emma wears an "eye-watering" mix of fluorescent colors to school. Not very sign friendly, but I am very much guilty of wearing loud colors and designs, much to my interpreters' misfortunes.
- Apparently Emma "can't" talk. Granted, this observation was made by an ableist man or two, and it's very much accurate to how many hearing people perceive deaf people. The concept of "deaf-mute" is very pervasive, and very misleading. At no point in this book does Emma speak, but presumably she can actually speak if she had oral training/speech therapy, or if she later chooses to get it.
An interesting thing about this novel is that the Banks family have a wrist device called "Ears for Emma" (E.F.E., or Effie). The device translates electrical impulses created by thoughts into audible speech for Parker and his parents to hear through an implanted microphone, and into subtitles that Emma can read using specially designed glasses. (Basically, it's a cell phone, but for thoughts instead of voices, and with a limited range.) Yay accessibility! Effie allows the family to communicate without speaking or signing.
It's mentioned that in the past, Dad had tried to expand Effie to pick up on sounds around Emma, but the mic couldn't distinguish voices and ambient noises, resulting in gibberish. (Good parallel to hearing aids.) Emma requested the idea be discarded, and the family never brought it up again. That's the appropriate reaction! If a deaf member of a family says some accommodation doesn't work, it's time to stop trying with that one and move on to one that does work for the deaf person, not what the hearing family thinks is best or most convenient.
Less accurate things:
- The conversations between Michael and Emma are a bit confusing. She is obviously lipreading, but she's responding in sign, and somehow Michael is "grasping her meaning." Parker sometimes explicitly translates, so I suppose one could assume he's constantly playing interpreter? It would have been nice if Michael had pulled out his phone or a pencil and paper so they could write back and forth.
- Emma can lipread. Apparently with no issues. She follows spoken dialog between an old woman and one of her kidnappers with perfect ease. Strange that accents, mouth shapes, teeth, etc. don't seem to play any part here.
- She can also read the tiny print subtitles flashing across her glasses lens at the same time she's fake screaming/crying and looking around. Talk about multitasking! This is necessarily inaccurate--but when I was ten I could barely keep my balance when I walked, let alone cry, read, and look around all at once.
Bonus rep: an old woman who is hard of hearing answers the phone and has trouble understanding Parker, who is disguising his voice with a voice changer. She misunderstands Solomon Gladstone as Benjamin Gladstone, which is accurate. People sometimes miss one or two syllables, and try to put it together with the syllable(s) they have. What's happened here is she missed "Solo" and heard "mon," knew from context that it was a name, and came up with a common name ending in the "muhn" sound: Benjamin! Parker has to repeat himself once or twice throughout the short conversation.
Overall, a good representation of a deaf character who is treated with respect and who has autonomy.
Link to ranked list of deaf characters in fiction: https://modcast.blog/2022/12/17/ranked-deaf-characters-in-fiction/