When I first heard of this, my reaction was "uh, oh, another case of Jonah syndrome." What, you ask, is "Jonah syndrome?" Jonah syndrome is the phrase that I coined to describe the insensitivity of the hearing world now and then, to the needs of deaf and hard of hearing people when it would so obviously be called for. The Phyllis Frelich Super Bowl case is a clear example of Jonah syndrome.
How did I come to define and label this Jonah syndrome? Back in 1979, there was a classic film about deafness shown on CBS television. Granted, it was the days before closed captioning, but open captioning was available and could certainly have been used on this film to benefit the many deaf and hard of hearing viewers even if it meant risking angering hearing viewers. The film was "And Your Name is Jonah," starring a then nine-year-old Jeffrey Bravin.
In "And Your Name is Jonah," Bravin's character "Jonah" is found to be deaf and the film follows his discovery of himself as a deaf person, from the time he leaves the institution for the retarded to his learning sign language. I watched that film with my family, unable to understand much of what was happening because there were no captions even though the film had been heavily promoted in the deaf community. The next day on the school bus, a classmate came up to me and exclaimed, "Oh, Jamie! I saw 'And Your Name is Jonah!' I think I understand you better now!" I snapped back angrily, "I couldn't understand it! There were no captions!"
I finally saw "And Your Name is Jonah" with captions in the mid to late eighties, when I discovered a captioned version in the Gallaudet University library. At last, I was able to watch and understand the entire film and see what I had missed as a teenager. This film is not available on home video, and it should be, as it is a true classic.
Surely the producers of the Super Bowl, almost two decades later, must have known that many deaf and hard of hearing people would have been watching. They could easily have put an insert of Phyllis Frelich signing on the screen. The more proactive members of the deaf and hard of hearing community have already swung into action, writing letters and protesting. Will this protest action be enough to prevent another case of Jonah syndrome next year?
