With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing everyone to stay home, the trend of content creation and engagement has drastically increased in social media. TikTok, which was once viewed as an avenue for teenagers to dance to pop songs, has seen an unprecedented rise in users. Such users have expanded the use of TikTok from entertainment to a wide variety of things such as: marketing, brand management, tourism, social awareness etc. One of the best examples of the TikTok community’s engagement with social issues is: Deaf awareness.
https://www.tiktok.com/@chrissycanthearyou?lang=en
Chrissy Marshall is a deaf, 19-year-old TikToker with 1.2 million followers. She makes TikToks on her experiences of living as a Deaf person in the US. In one of her most viral videos covered by multiple media outlets, Chrissy talks about a special day where she came across three people who could sign to her: her bank teller, her Starbuck barista, and her Pretzel server. She describes feeling incredibly touched and grateful and labels the day as a “utopian day”. The video, which has also been uploaded to twitter now, has been viewed by over 5.6 million people and continues to be shared. In response to her video, most people have thanked Chrissy for making them realize how small effort on their part like learning a few ASL signs, can mean so much to the Deaf people. Other people have commented how Chrissy is inspiring them to learn ASL and be more aware about the needs of Deaf people around them. Chrissy has also made videos on how mask wearing has affected the Deaf community. Given how most people don’t know how to sign, Deaf people often rely on facial expressions and lip-reading to carry out conversations. Mask-wearing has eliminated that option, making communication even harder for Deaf people.
Another interesting thing about Chrissy’s videos is that she gradually lost her hearing and became completely deaf by the end of high school. This means, she can still speak to people and inform them that she is deaf. This often results in people being surprised and then trying to “test” if she is actually deaf or how deaf she is. Chrissy calls this treatment “being forced to do unjust demonstration of her integrity just because she is disabled” . These are just the representative samples of all the Deaf issues that Chrissy has highlighted in her TikToks. Chrissy aims to continue making TikToks to educate people about ASL and teach them better ways to conduct themselves around Deaf people. Even though it comes at a cost of putting her life on social media for everyone to view and comment on, Chrissy believes it is worth doing for all the good that it can result in.
It is important to note that Chrissy is not the only Deaf person raising social awareness about Deaf communities in social media, or even just in TikTok. There are hundreds of Deaf people dedicated to this, across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. With their work, these creators are educating generations of hearing people about Deaf community. In doing so, they are also bridging the gap between the hearing world and the Deaf world. This really shows the power that social media has. When used intentionally, social media can function as a tool for social change. However, what I find sad about this situation is that Deaf people are having to do this work all by themselves. Deaf people were fighting for their rights before the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 and they are still fighting for their rights today, just to get hearing people to understand and treat them better. This should force the hearing world to think about what our role should be in amplifying and supporting Deaf voices because we are clearly not doing enough.
Comments
This is both sad and happy to hear Susmita! It's interesting that language and and compensating for a disability come together and you would think that because it is a disability, more people would be accommodating for people with disabilities and that the government and education system would make it a requirement for the country and the citizens to learn ASL or at least have resources more readily available to them. But with the exposure due to social media that ASL and deafness is being more well aware and the need of it! It's sad to hear that they have fought their battles alone and by themselves and they don't have more a forefront than they should. Hopefully with the emergence of social media platforms connects us to the reality that Chrissy faces and makes us more accommodating and more accountable for fighting for their rights with them.
Hi Susmita, thanks for sharing I enjoyed reading your post. I find it inspiring that a 19-year-old TikTok has gone to represent and help raise awareness for deafness. This helps me remember the positive side of social media and reminds me that there are still truly good people out there that intend to and create positive change which is awesome and amazing! I will definitely check out more of her content and raise my own awareness of deafness and ASL!