Deaf actor in Netflix’s “The Witcher 2”; ACLU, NAD demand action over deaf wrestler
Here are two Deaf News briefs.
A Black Deaf actor named Jamal Ajala had a role in the second season of Netflix’s “The Witcher.” His role was called Dermian, which seems to be an elf. He communicated in sign language and gestures and had an elf interpreter with him.
Ajala is on Twitter @AjalaJamal and he tweeted, “I don’t watch The Witcher or myself in screen either but I am grateful for the opportunity to play the role of Dermian…”
Ajala explained in an online profile on Graeae.org that he was born in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to England when he was seven with his family for a better life. He got into acting at the age of 16.
Check out “The Witcher” on Netflix if you want to see the scene — the episode, on Season 2, is titled, “Redanian Intelligence.”
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ABC News reported that the ACLU of Nebraska and the NAD wrote a letter to the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA), the governing body of Nebraska high school sports, on Tuesday to demand them to publicly acknowledge that a deaf wrestler, Paul Ruff, was discriminated against in his state championship match in February.
“The Daily Moth” reporter Renca Dunn covered this story in March. She explained that Ruff, playing for the Gering High School, lost the state championship match by one point in double overtime because he did not realize that the referee issued a “caution” earlier in the match. When he got his second “caution,” his opponent was awarded one point and won 1-0. The referee was wearing a face mask. Ruff wears a cochlear implant but removes it during the matches and relies on lipreading, and all of his referees throughout his season wore see-through face masks, until the championship match. The ACLU and the NAD said in the letter that the referee failed to wear a see-thru mask or make sure that Ruff could understand him, and that it was a discriminatory act. The letter said the NSAA should begin accommodating deaf wrestlers by making referees wear see-through masks.
That’s the two Deaf News briefs for today.
https://twitter.com/AjalaJamal/status/1476320788542337037
https://graeae.org/introducing-graeaes-ensemble-artists/
https://www.dailymoth.com/blog/deaf-wrestler-blames-referee-miscommunication-for-state-title-loss