REVIEWING DEAF NEWS IN 2024

Here are some of the top “Deaf News” that we covered in 2024.

In entertainment, 2024 started with a bang with the release of “Echo” on Disney+ in January. It had a Deaf and Native American action star, portrayed by Alaqua Cox, and there was a lot of ASL signing throughout the miniseries. The show also portrayed a Deaf supporting actress, Deaf writers, a Deaf ASL master, and a Deaf editor. “Echo” easily ranks on the top for Deaf representation in the film/TV industry.

Two other notable events in Deaf entertainment was when Kaylee Hottle had a major role in “Godzilla x Kong and when the “Jesus” film by Deaf Missions was released in theaters nationwide with a cast and crew almost entirely made up of Deaf people.

In 2024, a major topic in our community is the rise of gene therapy to restore hearing in children who were born with hearing loss. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said they successfully treated an 11-year-old Deaf boy who had hearing loss due to issues with his OTOF genes. The boy, who was born profoundly deaf in both ears, now can hear like someone who has mild to moderate hearing loss.

There were also reports of successful gene therapies for deaf children with OTOF issues in China and England in 2024. Gene therapy for deaf children won’t be a widespread thing anytime soon because the cases aforementioned are only for the OTOF gene, which is just one of the many causes of deafness, but 2024 can be considered the year where scientists really pushed forward with trying to “heal” deaf children. Many Deaf-centric organizations have discussed what this means for the future and it’s sure to continue to be a top topic for our community in 2025.

In 2024, a major topic in the Deaf community was the turmoil within the National Association of the Deaf and its former CEO, Howard Rosenblum, who resigned after facing a review from the NAD Board after many Deaf people raised questions about his handling of the Super Bowl’s ASL Access and the NAD-NFL relationship. “The Daily Moth” covered several stories about the controversy including an opinion video. The NAD said what I reported was “false” and “misleading.” For now, the NAD and its new leadership has disassociated from the NFL and Rosenblum has started a new organization called “Deaf Equality” in Chicago and will still work with the Super Bowl’s ASL Access component in the upcoming Super Bowl.

Another controversy that got a lot of attention in the Deaf community was Elon Musk’s tweet in February asking, “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have subtitles? Am I missing something?” Remember that? Many people responded by saying Musk was ignorant and did not understand the importance of sign language.

Other notable events in 2024 was when Maryland became the second state after Hawaii to require movie theaters to provide open captioning for most of the films they showed at various times, when the NHL provided an innovative “NHL in ASL” concept that had two Deaf personalities provide ASL commentary during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and Deaf professional boxer Julian “Quiet Storm” Smith winning two matches in February and July.

Thank you for staying with the light with Deaf News in 2024. We’ll continue to deliver Deaf News next year!

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