While filming the reality series “Deaf U,” Rodney Burford wasn’t too focused on any effect he and his cochlear implants would have on viewers. “In my own mind I was like, ‘Yo, I’m really on Netflix,’” said the 22-year-old cast member of the show, which zooms in on a group of students at Gallaudet University, the nation’s only liberal arts university devoted to deaf people. Parents of cochlear-implant users started reaching out to say how seeing Burford on the screen had made an impact on their children. “So I would say, no question, I’m proud,” he said in an interview. “I am very proud.”Many deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals have welcomed the increase in visibility that deafness and hearing loss have enjoyed on TV lately.

Source: New York Times January 27, 2021 15:00 UTC