X-Men: Analogies of Deaf Children Of Hearing Parents To Mutants

Late at night one night, I tucked in bed and channel-surfed the TV for a decent program to watch. I came across the channel showing the second installment of X-Men movie and I opted for it since I had not seen that movie in a while.

I came in at the part where Xavier's group was in the house of one of the mutants to confront the parents about their son. Wolverine was battling with Magneto's group outside. One of the mutants whose parents' house was made a battleground sat down with his parents and told them that the school where he was attending was in fact not a school for gifted children but for mutants. He proceeded to demonstrate by touching a hot cup of coffee in which turned to ice.

Amidst Wolverine's shenanigans with Magneto's guys, mutant's mother asked her son, "Have you tried not to be a mutant?"

This statement hit home with me. That statement represents the parents of deaf children. The mother did not want her son to be a mutant but to be a copy of herself. She did not say, "Oh cool. You could freeze a lake with just a touch of your finger. That's a gift." Instead, she implored him to try to refrain from actions of a mutant. Just as parents of hearing children who say, "Have you tried to be hearing?" They try their best to do just that by implanting them, sending them for auditory training, speech therapy, enroll them in a program that use oralism as instructional tool, and refrain both parent and child from using their natural language, ASL. They don't say, "Oh cool. You are deaf. You can become bilingual. You can speak ASL and write English. "

Then I thought about how the third installment of the movie went...Yes, the mutant with the wings. This mutant had a father who was a U.S. senator, upon discovering his son a mutant, pushed for a cure for mutants and to pass into law requiring mutants to be vaccinated. Just like AGBAD. Alexander G. Bell did not like that his mother and wife were deaf and his life was spent seeking a cure for their deafness.

The son, the mutant with the wings, reassured his father he did not want to remain a mutant and would take the vaccine. The father was pleased. At the end of the movie, the vaccine was ready for administration. Mutants lined to receive their vaccinations. The senator called his mutant son into his office. Doubt visibly crept into the mutant by his eyes and body language. He willed himself to enter his father's office. He must please his father. Just like thousands deaf children striving themselves to please their parents.

The father knew his son might change his mind. He had at ready a restraining vertical bed. Just like hearing parents obstructing their deaf children's exploration of other options besides oralism, CI, and auditory/speech training. Hearing parents are terrified that their children might change their minds and decide to take that route. The mutant son was grabbed by his father's assistants and restrained to the vertical bed. The son tried to reason with his father upon deaf ears - excuse the pun. Just like deaf children trying to explain to their parents why they want to explore the options of which they tried so hard to obstruct their children from.

The wings burst out of their restraints on his back and spreaded out to their full spans. He broke out of the restraints as if they were made of seaweed. He turned to his father with a face saying "sorry, Dad. I gotta do what I want to do, not what you want me to do." He ran straight for the wall-to-wall windows on the exterior of the building. The father screamed - he never tried to fly before. The son went through the window glass, dropped below, the father ran to the window edge, expecting to find his son on the concrete below. The son plunged downward and picked up the wind. He gained altitude, swooped the ground level and flew away into the horizon. The father stood at the broken window, witnessing his son's defection from him. His son chose to sever relationship with his father because his father wouldn't accept him for who he was. Just like thousands of deaf children leaving their families to escape the pressure to mime them. It seems like a betrayal when they defect. The mutant and deaf children alike say, "I don't think there's anything wrong with me. It is your who think that way therefore it is YOUR problem, not ours."

The mutant knew the vaccine would not change anything. It will take away his flying ability but inside, he would always be a mutant. Just like a deaf child - the CI, hearing aids, ability to speak and hear do not change who s/he is. S/he is still deaf.

It is ok to be different. In a sense we ARE mutants. Our genes mutated by DNA or outside illnesses which caused us to be deaf. It makes the world a more interesting place.