Like ABC Family’s other offerings, Switched at Birth is definitely going for the uplifting moral tale couched in wholesome though often surprisingly progressive family values angle, so it would seem easy for it to slip into an inspiring narrative about disability and deafness. (Strictly speaking, it wasn’t entirely silent, as it featured some background noise as well as, unfortunately, music I would have preferred to watch it in true silence and considered turning the sound off altogether, something I’d recommend for those who haven’t seen the episode yet.) As Marlee Matlin as Melody, the school’s guidance counselor, put it, hearing people won’t understand Deaf life until they walk in their shoes, and ‘Uprising’ offered a chance to do that.
SWITCHED AT BIRTH SEASON 3 EPISODE 2 TV
While there was some spoken dialogue at the beginning and at the very end, the episode was otherwise entirely shot in ASL as we watched the characters protest the proposed closure of their unique high school, which would have forced them into mainstream school.Īs the only all-ASL primetime TV episode in history, ‘Uprising’ would have been astounding for that alone, and the media are abuzz with talk over the ‘silent’ episode. This week, the show took it even further, and made television history with an all-ASL episode, opened with an announcement that ‘there’s nothing wrong with your TV’ to warn viewers that yes, the low sound was intentional. This is a show that celebrates Deaf culture, Deaf pride, and Deaf community. It forces a new perspective on viewers in a way that feels organic and natural to the text, rather than heavy-handed. ABC Family’s Switched at Birth has already been making television history with the heavily integrated use of American Sign Language (ASL) in its episodes revolving around the lives of Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing people, the show includes scenes set in a Deaf high school and frequently includes entirely ASL dialogue between characters.
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