Introducing..."Living Impaired" Comic Strip By Pete McEachen
Wednesday December 3, 2008
An aspiring hard of hearing cartoonist, Pete McEachen, has launched his "Living Impaired" comic strip on the About Deafness forum. In his introduction to the comic strip, Pete writes:
I call the strip Living Impaired 1.0 because whether we're deaf, hearing impaired, blind, diabetic or have a foot that chronically falls asleep, we're all living impaired in some way. It's how we deal with these imperfections that make us who we are! :)Pete is seeking feedback from About.com Deafness readers, and he will be posting a new strip daily on the About.com Deafness forum. He hopes that readers will post their feedback as responses to his cartoon postings. His characters are based on real people in deaf history and the disability community!
Enjoy - I know I will enjoy reading this strip and watching Pete develop as a cartoonist.
Comments
Pete, We’re only impaired by others’ attitudes, and the cartoon name, “Living Impaired”, will just reinforce this negative attitude. Don’t take me the wrong way, it’s just that we’ve been fighting this attitude for so long and I see the strip’s title, with its potential of reaching the media mass, as a step backward. Thanks!
Hi Tayler,
I gave A LOT of thought to the name and even considered naming the strip “Do you hear what I hear?” (In honor of my favorite christmas song and the nature of my disability), but felt it was too long.
I went with Living Impaired because it was short, easy to remember and grabs people’s attention. (ahhh marketing….)
Enjoy the strips and if another name comes to mind, don’t hesitate to suggest it! This is the kind of feedback I need! Thanks. -Pete
Hi,
I have just discovered a neat website http://dotsub.com that enables online captioning and subtitles. They have some terrific video content, most of which is already captioned. A fav video is L’homme qui plantait des arbres (The man who planted trees), very motivational. here is the link. just search in most viewed. enjoy.
Agh! What can we do if we have to market? i guess it does get the attention of persons that aren’t from the “disability community”. But then, it doesn’t help too much in the eradication of that term. It is like a case of justifying the means (scarifying the name) for the end of capturing an audience. I know it is not easy to get a name that is “sweet, short and to the point”. It doesn’t offends me as I’m more open minded, but it sure contradicts what I tell in my awareness speeches at my job in an Advocacy System State Agency. Ah! I guess it offends more Deaf than HoH. Oh, yes, like Tyler says, we are impaired by other’s attitudes… so, we are still “impaired” because of that. I sure liked the strip about the quiet school because Thomas turned his hearing aids off
WOW! That video is awesome! Thanks for pointing it out to me. I love the animation and artwork.
As far as the marketing of things, I’m all too familiar with it in my current job. I have been working on more name possiblities and I will share with everyone later. Suggestions are still welcome! Thanks -Pete
I like the name. It sounds serious and yet makes me laugh. Think of some of the rediculious titles the public school system comes up with for programs they stick our kids in. I was HOH as a child and now have a son with Asperger’s (Autism) – another son with ADHD and a daughter diagnosed as Gifted. I have a fourth child – a daughter – with no title. Maybe she could be… Living Impaired.
Thanks Missy, you made ME laugh.
FYI, my daughter is HOH and also has been identified by her school as “gifted” as well.
My son is “normal”, if being a “hot-head” at 3 is normal…
Merry Christmas Pete
what a great idea! Living Impaired Comic
Strip.
When will it be coming out? I can hardly wait.
How did you ever come up with this?
Merry christmas
Amanda
Merry Christmas to you as well Amanda!
If it comes out, it looks like I’ll do it on my own right now. Not thru a syndicate or other publisher, unless someone expresses interest. I don’t mind doing it on my own as long as I know there’s an audience for it and it appears there is.
As to how I came up with it…I’ve been sitting on the idea for many years. I thought it was too “narrow” an audience for a syndicated cartoonist, so I went with what I thought were more mainstream ideas first…(you can see them on my website). My daughter inspired me to do it because I wanted to have a character in the comics she could identify with. She LOVES reading the daily comics. It’s one of the very few reasons I still get the paper delivered to my house.
I picked the notable deaf people as names for the characters as more of an inside joke for the deaf community. If you threw those first names out to the general public, I’m not sure many would pick up the inferences, accept maybe Marlee because she’s still publicly visible. I made Alex the bad guy, because I know the deaf community has/had polarizing opinions of A.G. Bell and his opinions on handling deaf people. Thomas is essentially me. And like Edison, I too am currently an inventor (toys), just not on the grand scale his was.
That’s a little background. A lot of thought has gone into this… maybe too much! -Pete
I loved the idea of the names. I noticed them, but only because I have read about them before and got the “inside joke” =) It is really a good idea and it shows awareness.
If you like videos featuring “deaf themes”, then you should search on YouTube a video on A Deaf Girl in a Pantene commercial. Is a long commercial (about 2 minutes), but is very beautiful. I believe you will like it.
Regards.
Hi Niq,
Thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out. I’m glad you like the inside joke.
In the future you should reply on the forum posting, I just happened by this and noticed your comment. I check the post more regularly.
Thanks for the interest! AND for the video suggestions. Good stuff! -Pete
Hello. And Bye.