Awareness is Golden

So I am posting the final paper of my semester that I have not yet posted. One about deafness and a CSI episode as I have mentioned. Also, to refer to some other sources of mine, here is another post about related topics. This paper is very much a watered down informational guide to Deaf culture and a very in depth description of a CSI episode in which the link to the episode is provided in the post of the first link in this current post.
Please, be aware.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation or CSI: Las Vegas is a popular crime drama show on prime time television, going strong for the last ten years. Its popularity has opened up two additional spin-offs, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. These shows are well known to at least a large majority of people in America, from individuals that watch television regularly to even those who do not. However, an aspect of culture in America that is not widely recognized as much is the Deaf community. That’s right, deaf with a capital D. The Deaf are actually identified as a culture of their own, but still unfortunately, are not popularly represented nor even always accurately represented in the hearing majority culture (Adams pp344-351). CSI does, in fact, shed some light on this community as well as spreading the awareness of the existence of deaf people and the issues they come across when dealing with the hearing majority. I want to discuss the representations in which CSI provides as well as background information on the Deaf community and how these tie into popular culture.
To start off, CSI’s popularity and influence over American culture is astounding. To give a glimpse into the extent of the show’s power, there is such a phenomenon known as the CSI effect or CSI syndrome in which refers to the higher awareness and even unrealistic assumptions about forensic science in the minds of the audience of CSI. There has particularly been evidence of this in real life jurors who may expect DNA evidence whether it is actually needed or not, available, or even relevant. The show depicts a glamorized version of real life forensics further aided by machines, although present in real life crime labs, which process information much faster and possibly certain types of information that can not realistically be obtained by these machines (Lovgren). The show has also influenced the way in which crimes are committed such as by being extremely careful of not leaving any evidence behind by use of bleach and/or burning. Universities are also seeing an increase in enrollment of forensic courses. Although there is a negative aspect of the CSI effect, in positive light, this show brings more recognition of the field. This spreads awareness and some sort of understanding of the people involved in this field of science, which is always important. The audience is also exposed to the crimes that do and will occur in the world they live in. Although this could be hard for individuals to grasp or cope with, it can also provoke them to live a safer, more protected life from possible dangers.
There is one specific episode of CSI that will be of my main focus, “Sounds of Silence” aired during CSI’s first season, however it is not the only episode that covers deafness. I feel it is extremely important to describe the occurrences of the episode as well as little hints of information mentioned in regards to the deaf, which I will further discuss later on. “Sounds of Silence” begins with two young women driving and discover they had run over a corpse of a young man, Brian Clemonds. His autopsy reveals a hit and run and that he is, in fact, deaf. Gil Grissom, the CSI night shift supervisor, makes note that there is college for the deaf about a mile from where Clemonds’ body was found. As the investigators hypothesize that Clemonds was hit and died from the vehicular impact, the autopsy further reveals wounds on the victim’s knuckles combined with blood that is not his own. This concludes that a struggle had occurred and thus more investigation is needed. Grissom then makes a visit to the victim’s mother to inform her that her son has been killed. However, before he informs Mrs. Clemonds, he notices the bell along the floor that is connected to the doorbell. He exposes his knowledge that this is used to create vibrations on the floorboard to notify deaf residents that there is someone at the door. The mother proceeds to break down, crying asking if it was her fault. She states that when she was pregnant with her son she had German measles, which caused her child to lose his hearing. Grissom assures her it is not her fault and that Brian is believed to have been murdered. The next scene takes us to the college that Brian attended where two investigators, Sara Sidle and Warrick Brown, interview the president of the college, Dr. Gilbert who also is severely deaf, with the aid of an American Sign Language (or ASL) interpreter. However, both investigators are not talking at the president but at the interpreter, irritating the president who tells them that she would appreciate if they talked facing her and that she is able to read lips. She then kicks them out of her office and tells them to send someone else, someone with more understanding, as they cannot “solve a crime without understanding the victim.” The investigators inform Grissom that they were kicked out and that the president was “Hostile. Like it’s our fault we can hear.” Grissom decides that they try again with his presence and as the president tries to kick them out again, Grissom is shown using ASL which both surprises the president and the investigators who were previously unaware of Grissom’s ASL knowledge. Grissom shows that he understands how the president feels and that if his investigators must understand the victim to solve the crime, then she must help them understand. She replies that “When a deaf person meets a hearing person, the hearing person so much just says ‘I’m normal, you’re not.’” Grissom explains that he is here to help and gives her permission to be involved in the case as she wishes. Grissom and Dr. Gilbert look over Clemonds’ file that shows that there were six filed complaints against Clemonds’ roommate, Paul Arrington. It is important to note that a majority of schools for the deaf are also living residences for the students; therefore they all live on campus together. Arrington is stated to have recently lost his hearing causing him to be very angry, as well as he is unable to communicate by sign language or lip reading. Grissom explains that you “Don’t need to hear or speak to communicate…or commit murder.” This puts him as a possible suspect for the murder of Clemonds. Next, Sidle tries to ask Grissom how he knows ASL, in which he refuses to inform her about. He then tells her that she “Sees deafness as a pathology. For Dr. Gilbert, her deafness is not her handicap- it’s her way of life.” Grissom then interviews Arrington with Dr. Gilbert present, using a machine attached to his head that they call a video polygraph reading brainwaves of those who do not speak. The interview actually involves a slideshow of photos Dr. Gilbert, the college, Brian Clemonds, and of the crime scene played out for Arrington while reading his brain activity. It is revealed that he recollects the first three but once the crime scene photos are shown there are no recollections of these settings by Arrington. This process irritates Dr. Gilbert in which she tells Grissom to look outside of the school for the killer, and also clearing Arrington of the suspect status. Sidle and Brown then examine the evidence and discover that the clothing Clemonds was wearing has some traces of lice, but not from his head. I did notice that Brown referred to Clemonds as the “dead guy” twice in this brief scene. In my extensive experience of watching CSI, I do not recall this happening much in other episodes, if at all. After further evidence examination, they have found the vehicle that ran over Clemonds, owned by Adam Walkey and eighteen year old male with no previous criminal records. As Dr. Gilbert and Grissom enter the room in which Brown and Sidle are examining the vehicle Sidle says, “Well, now we know why Grissom’s late.” Brown replies, “Ahh, you just don’t like any other women in his life.” She retorts, “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.” This is yet another example of very subtle connections with the topic of deafness. The vehicle is a positive match, so the investigation of Walkey begins and unfolds that there was another person present with Adam the night of the incident. Dr. Gilbert bursts into the interrogation with Walkey and begins to yell and sign at Walkey about if Clemonds scared him, talked funny, or screamed; meanwhile Walkey knows nothing about the victim. Now that they know who was with Walkey, they begin to interrogate him, who tells an innocent version of the story claiming it as the truth. Grissom then gives suspect his hypothetical version of what he thinks really happened, describing that the two guys were driving and saw Clemonds walking on the sidewalk with a six-pack of beer in which they were trying to get Clemonds attention in possible hopes of getting beer. Clemonds ignored them, as we know why, which aggravated the suspects to the point in which they got out of the vehicle and proceeded to harass Clemonds. Escalating into a violent fight and severely injuring Clemonds, they go back into the car and as Clemonds gets off the ground to approach the vehicle, they decide to reverse the SUV and run over Clemonds, killing him. The suspect suddenly expresses a need for a lawyer and the interrogation is technically over. However, Grissom has something further to add, “You know why Brian Clemonds ran away from you? It was dark, you were shouting at him, and he didn’t understand what you were saying…Brian Clemonds was deaf.” As you see the look of shock on the suspect’s face, Grissom says, “He was afraid of you. But you were more afraid of him, weren’t you?” Grissom leaves the room and the next scene shows him and Dr. Gilbert at the college talking. This scene depicts the fact that Grissom does not view deaf people as different and Dr. Gilbert starts to sign asking him who taught him to sign. This is where the spoken dialogue ends and only those who understand ASL and/or can read lips know what is being communicated at this point. This is a particularly revealing moment, as well as episode, because not much is known about Grissom and in this scene we find out that his mother lost her hearing when she was eight thus teaching Grissom sign language in order to communicate with her and that deaf people are not inferior. Grissom describes an instance when he was young and asked his mother what it was like to be deaf in which she told him it was similar to being under water. The episode closes as the screen pans out to the fountain at the college while you hear peaceful water flowing sounds.
I by no means intend for the entire description of the episode to take up the required length of this paper, but feel all aspects of the episode trigger deaf awareness. Before I begin, I want to make note that I am not saying that all hearing people hold these beliefs as stated below. Merely, I am referring to the general stereotypes that exist and that are often represented.
First, the plain fact that deaf schools are also student residences is a very important part of the life of deaf students which may of little or no knowledge of the general hearing public. I personally have only attended the Phoenix Day School for the Deaf during the first year or two of my schooling life, for I don’t have extensive experience there as many other hard of hearing or deaf people do. CSI presents this information which allows the audience to become aware of if it they had not previously held the knowledge.
The next point regards American Sign Language and the use of interpreters. Just the simple act of showing the language in the popular media enforces awareness. I feel, with my experience with ASL, that paying great attention to it allows you to gradually understand at least part of what is being communicated. ASL is an incredibly demonstrative and active language which requires more bodily and facial expression as well as showing of emotions more openly than that of spoken languages. With that in mind, if a person understands basic body language and facial expressions they can make out what is being conveyed even if they don’t necessarily know the signs. Not only can a person somewhat detect what is being expressed, they can also just experience the language itself and understand and become familiar with how it works. As for interpreters, a significant facet of Deaf culture, they are required by law to be provided if ever in need. “Sounds of Silence” did a particularly good job including that aspect as well as the way hearing people may incorrectly assume the operation of using an interpreter. The fact that the CSI agents were talking to the interpreter, who was standing behind them, and not to Dr. Gilbert who was directly in front of them, reveals the notion of unawareness on going about communicating and interacting with the Deaf. Dr. Gilbert expressed her irritation with getting an interpreter without even asking her beforehand, showing that they assumed she was unable to communicate for herself. She also stated she could read lips and clearly she could speak. This scene is a perfect example of one of the most commonly held views by the hearing towards the Deaf. The long held view that the Deaf are deaf and dumb continues to resonate in today’s world. The CSI agents treated her as if she wasn’t there; deaf, dumb, and invisible. It seems that it is often forgotten that deaf people can see, and about sixty-five percent of communication is nonverbal. Therefore, hearing is not the sole ability needed for understanding communication. I understand that hearing people treat the Deaf this way simply because they are unaware, that is why I advocate awareness so strongly.
The doorbell for the deaf, another important feature of the life of the Deaf, is shown on CSI. A great number of people often wonder how deaf individuals wake up in the morning, communicate by phone, know when someone is at the door, watch television, and so on. There are alarm clocks made to flicker light or vibrate to wake individuals up, to alert them of fire or if someone is at the door and the likes. Closed captioning has provided subtitles on television for the Deaf since 1980 (Robson pp11-12). The TTY or TDD is a telecommunications device for the Deaf aiding in communications over a distance. There are plenty of devices and techniques available for deaf people to get along in the hearing world and the fact that CSI reveals at least one of these is awesome.
Mrs. Clemonds is shown blaming herself for her son’s deafness, implying that it is a problem, a handicap. This is the foremost commonly held view of deafness, that it is a curse and a disease that needs to be cured, to be fixed. This is essentially what divides the Deaf and the hearing, it is ability versus lack of ability; normal versus abnormal. The fact of the matter is, most people that make up the Deaf community proudly display and embrace their deafness as who they are, as what is normal to them and most definitely not a handicap. For me, being hard of hearing gives me more ability than not, I stand with the rest that my so called lack of hearing is a wonderful part of who I am and something I do not want to be fixed. Awareness of these sentiments and the lives of the Deaf will allow the hearing to understand that they don’t see it as a problem and they will stop finding ways to feed “cures” to them.
Another interesting point in the episode is that of Clemonds’ roommate, Paul Arrington. Arrington is stated to have recently lost his hearing and is unable to read lips or communicate by ASL. Although this isn’t a major part of the episode, they still touch on another important aspect of Deaf culture. Being that not all deaf and hard of hearing are the same. Many individual’s hearing range along the whole spectrum of minor loss to moderate to severe loss to complete deafness as well as the ages of the individuals in the time of the loss. Not only do the hearing levels vary, but the forms of communication in which individuals choose to use. Some deaf individuals are raised or feel comfortable living a oralist life, meaning they talk and read lips and may or may not use a hearing device and do not communicate by sign language. Some communicate by sign language and generally read lips and may or may not use a hearing device. Some speak, some do not. It is also important to know that these forms may also not be due because of choice, generally if the hearing loss occurred at birth or a really young age the parent(s) will make the choice of what kind of lifestyle they want for the child. With that in mind, ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, most of which have no awareness or exposure to deafness which generally results in the parents choosing an oralist lifestyle for the child and getting some sort of hearing device whether it is hearing aids or cochlear implants.
As I mentioned in the episode description, I noticed that the CSI agent Warrick Brown referred to Clemonds as the “Dead guy” on a couple occasions, in which I have not noticed in other episodes. This is a minor example of a bigger issue that deaf people are viewed as inferior or less human than the hearing. This kind of disrespect is easily detected in just the language that is used when referring to the Deaf. Unfortunately, for some people this idea may have been so ingrained in their upbringing that they don’t even realize they are doing it.
To sum up, the popularity and mainstream status of CSI tied with the issues regarding deafness covered in “Sounds of Silence” work together to spread awareness of the people and features of Deaf culture. It is incredibly important to recognize that deaf people are no less human than the next person, have their own legally recognized and very vibrant culture and language, have their own devices and techniques to live in the hearing world, have varying levels of hearing as well as forms of communication, and don’t all view their deafness as a curse. Awareness essentially is the first step towards acceptance, tolerance, and eventually equality.