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The Representation of Deaf Characters

in Children's Educational Television in
the US
Debbie B. Golos
Published online: 14 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Debbie B. Golos (2010) The Representation of Deaf Characters in
Children's Educational Television in the US, Journal of Children and Media, 4:3, 248-264, DOI:
10.1080/17482798.2010.486130

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 THE REPRESENTATION OF DEAF
CHARACTERS IN CHILDREN’S
EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION IN THE US
A content analysis

Debbie B. Golos
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In the last 15 to 20 years, there has been recognition of deaf people as bilinguals with American
Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf culture to be the language and culture of the US Deaf community.
Television is one medium that can influence the way viewers perceive minority groups. Programs
such as Sesame Street have incorporated positive cultural role models for hearing minority
children. Minimal research has been conducted of the portrayal of deaf people in educational
television. The purpose of this study is to analyze the portrayal of deaf characters in several
children’s educational television programs: Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, and Blue’s Clues.
I conducted a content analysis of one episode of each of these programs. After viewing each
episode, transcriptions were coded into either pathological or cultural categories and results
were analyzed. Results indicate that these episodes do not portray deaf characters from a
cultural perspective.

KEYWORDS ASL; bilingual; Children’s Educational Television; deaf; deaf culture

In the last 15 to 20 years, there has been a transition from labeling deaf people as
disabled to recognizing them as bilinguals (Lane, 1992). As a result, some educators of the
deaf have begun to support a bilingual model for deaf education (Johnson, Lidell, & Erting,
1989). Traditionally people perceive bilinguals as speakers of two different languages.
However, according to Grosjean’s (1996) conception of bilingualism and biculturalism,
bilingual is defined as, “the regular use of two or more languages” and bicultural as “the
coexistence or combination of two distinct cultures” (pp. 21 –22). Using these definitions,
the Deaf community can be considered bilingual/bicultural in that they use two different
languages (e.g. in the United States, American Sign Language or ASL and English) and
belong to two different cultures: hearing and Deaf.
Bilingual hearing and deaf populations are similar in that they have been traditionally
perceived from a deficit model (August & Hakuta, 1997). The primary notion of a deficit
model is that the language and culture of the minority is not sufficient to thrive in a society
nor is it respected when compared to the dominant or majority language and culture. If one
is to succeed in society, one must be able to assimilate to the majority culture (Glazer, 1997).
For bilingual deaf children that means adapting to the Hearing culture and speaking the
majority language, rather than belonging to the Deaf community, signing ASL (in the
United States) and reading/writing the majority language (Lane, 1992).

Journal of Children and Media, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2010

ISSN 1748-2798 print/1748-2801 online/10/030248-264
q 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17482798.2010.486130
 DEAF CHARACTERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS 249

Although there are similarities between hearing and Deaf bilingual minorities, one
difference is in the mode of communication. ASL is one of hundreds of signed languages
around the world. Like all signed languages, it has its own grammatical structure that, for
ASL, has more similarities to Spanish than English (Lane, 1992). The major difference from
spoken language is that it is a visual–spatial language rather than oral –aural language.
Facial expressions are often used as grammatical features (e.g. lowered eyebrows indicate a
WH question accompanying the sign for WHAT or WHERE) and space is used to in many
different ways, one of which is for agreement (e.g. the sign for HELP which is signed with a
fist of the dominant hand on the open palm of the non dominant signing hand, when
moved toward the chest indicates HELP-ME). Because of the structural and spatial
differences talking and signing at the same time could be compared to speaking English
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and writing Japanese simultaneously: essentially impossible. Those who do sign and talk at
the same time are not modeling either language but showing random vocabulary in a
broken structure (Lane, 1992; Lane, Hoffmeister, & Bahan, 1996).
Another essential difference is in how culture transfers from generation to
generation. In hearing families, children often acquire culture from their parents (Baker,
2001). Unless these children are adopted, children are born into the same culture, speaking
the same language as their families. As any culture, Deaf culture is a community of people
who have their own unique history, literature, theater, traditions, and language. In the
United States, fluency in ASL is highly valued as is ASL storytelling, jokes, and poetry (Lane,
1992). However, 90 per cent of deaf children are born to hearing families that do not know
sign language. These parents are unfamiliar with Deaf people or unaware of a Deaf
community or Deaf culture. Thus children are exposed to their culture through interaction
with Deaf peers and Deaf adults. Traditionally this has happened through residential
schools for the Deaf because children live at these schools, engage in after school activities,
and frequently have Deaf dorm counselors (Lane et al., 1996; Parasnis, 1996). Because of this
residential schools are highly valued in the Deaf community.
In their report for the National Academy of Sciences, August and Hakuta (1997)
describe three key elements to bilingual education: respect of the native language, respect
of the native culture, and the development of self-esteem. The same holds true for bilingual
education for deaf children (Johnson et al., 1989). The question, however, remains: how do
we instill these same characteristics in deaf children, and at the same time teach hearing
children to appreciate these characteristics?
Television presents one potential source for people to acquire information about
their own culture and language. It is also a way for all children to learn to value languages
and cultures other than their own. While television has the potential to influence the way
viewers perceive the “other,” more often than not, the media have portrayed negative
stereotypes of minority groups (Berry & Asamen, 1993). However, children’s educational
television programs have been one exception. Programs such as Sesame Street have
incorporated positive language and cultural role models for hearing minority children (e.g.
Fisch & Truglio, 2001).
Historically there have been few positive portrayals of deaf people in the general
media (Schuchman, 1988) and minimal research has been conducted related to deaf
people in educational television. While deaf characters have also been incorporated into
these programs, little is known about the inclusion and portrayal of cultural information.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze three episodes of several educational programs
 250 DEBBIE B. GOLOS

targeted toward preschool children for their incorporation of pathological and cultural
perspectives of deafness.

Theoretical Framework
There are two models of deafness that frame this study: the pathological model and
the cultural model. A pathological model of deafness is similar both to a deficit model of
bilingual education and to a medical model of disability. Within the deficit model (Lambet,
1977), society has traditionally devalued the first language or culture of bilingual children.
For instance, Spanish-speaking children who live in the United States are often placed into
total English immersion educational settings. The same has been true for the Deaf
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population in the United States. Traditionally, there has been little recognition of the Deaf
community or ASL in the educational setting. Deaf children were educated orally and
punished if they used any form of sign language (Lane et al., 1996). Lane (1992) refers to this
deficit model as a pathological model of deafness.
According the medical model of disability the focus is on fixing the problem of
individuals without considering their environmental or sociocultural needs (Phillips, 1990).
Similarly, a pathological perspective of deafness is viewed as a problem needing to be fixed,
much like any other medical condition (Lane, 1992). The focus is on the ear rather than the
person; the inability to hear, the inability to speak. The question from these models seems
to be: how can we “fix” deafness to make the individual “normal”? Those who subscribe to
this model discuss the use of hearing aids, surgery—including cochlear implants, and they
concentrate on deaf individuals learning to speak and lipread even though only 30 per cent
of all sounds are visible on the lips (Moore & Levitan, 2003). They often recommend that
deaf children be placed into mainstream educational programs so that they can be with
their hearing peers. Proponents of this model would generally discourage deaf children
from signing, or recommend they should sign and speak at the same time.
Bilingual Deaf educators view deafness from a cultural model rather than a
pathological or disability model (e.g. Johnson et al., 1989). According to Lane (1992), a
cultural perspective recognizes deafness with a capital “D.” It also acknowledges that there
is a Deaf culture: the existence of a community of people with their own culture and
recognizes ASL as the official language of this community (in the United States). As Deaf
community member Barbara Kannapell (1989) states, “ASL is our language in every sense of
the word. We create it, we keep it alive, and it keeps us and our traditions alive, to reject ASL
is to reject the Deaf person” (p. 22). Proponents of the cultural model believe that signed
languages such as ASL should be the language of choice in schools for the Deaf with
printed English being the second language. This is not to say that spoken English learning
or hearing culture should be dismissed, but that there should be a mutual respect for native
language and culture and the second language and culture.
In addition, Deaf culturalists do not believe that Deaf people need to be fixed, rather
that they have rich lives regardless of their inability to hear. Those who support a cultural
model encourage deaf children to attend and live at Residential schools for the Deaf so that
they can maximize their exposure to Deaf culture and ASL. They encourage Deaf adults to
be contributing members of society while at the same time advocating respect of their
culture and native language.
 DEAF CHARACTERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS 251

Review of the Literature

Researchers involved in bilingual education for hearing children have argued for the
importance of providing children with role models who have a similar language and
cultural background (e.g. Snow, Tabors, & Dickinson, 2001). Stinson and Foster (2000) agree
that Deaf adults serve as positive role models and may help both deaf and hearing children
to identify positively with the Deaf community and Deaf culture.

Children’s Educational Television

One medium that has proven successful for providing hearing children with role
models is children’s educational television. Over the years, Sesame Street has displayed an
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appreciation of diversity by offering a variety of role models for children including a

curriculum that incorporated positive portrayals of race relations among cultural groups
(Fisch & Truglio, 2001).
Research on children’s educational television has demonstrated that children can be
positively affected by images they see on TV. Viewing educational television can also affect
children’s racial behaviors toward minority populations. Gorn, Goldberg, and Kanungo
(1976) studied the role of Sesame Street in changing the intergroup attitudes of children.
Two groups of 3 –5-year-old children viewed episodes of the Canadian produced Sesame
Street which included non-White children. Results revealed that White children who viewed
these episodes displayed a strong preference for playing with non-Whites while those in
the control group who did not view the episodes chose to interact with children in their
same racial group.
There have also been recent studies which have demonstrated the effectiveness of
educational television on developing prosocial skills for children internationally. Through
viewing programs such as Sisumpur (Lee, 2007), children in Bangladesh learn not only math
and literacy skills but traditions such as folktales. Rechov SumSum was created to help
young Palestinian and Israeli children reduce cultural stereotypes and develop a mutual
respect for and understanding of one another. This program has shown that what children
view does matter and that there has been an increase in positive effects of children’s
attitudes toward the “other” (Cole et al., 2003). In Macedonia, episodes of the program
Nashe Maalo were shown to over 240 children in four different ethnic groups. Findings from
this study reveal that the program had positive effects on children’s view of themselves as
well as others (Schocat, 2003).

Deaf in the Media

If children can learn prosocial behavior and develop positive attitudes toward other
minority children from educational television programs, then both deaf and hearing
children could benefit from positive portrayals of deaf characters. Unfortunately, many of
the portrayals of deaf in the media have been negative. Hollywood has typically presented
Deaf people as characters that fall into one of the following stereotypes: “supercrips,”
“dummies,” “perfect lipreaders,” or victims needing to be pitied or cured (Kama, 2004;
Schuchman, 1988). Schuchman describes Hollywood’s portrayal of deafness as a disability.
According to Schuchman (1988), “the Deaf community does not exist in film or television,
only deafness and deaf individuals do” (p. 101). Valentine (2001) found similar results in
 252 DEBBIE B. GOLOS

Japan. He examined Japanese television and movies in the 1990s and concluded that deaf
characters are frequently portrayed from a medical or disability model.
In printed media, Power (2003) concluded that deaf people were portrayed from a
pathological perspective in Australian newspapers. However, in a follow-up study,
he analyzed Irish newspapers and found the portrayal of deafness to be more positive
(Power, 2005). They recognized Irish Sign Language (ISL) as a language and Irish Deaf
culture. However, he concludes that Japanese journalists could still be better educated
about Deaf culture and the Deaf community.
Several studies have analyzed the portrayal of deafness in textbooks. Hoffmeister
(1996) analyzed introductory Special Education texts for the words used to determine
whether deaf people were portrayed from a pathological or cultural perspective. His results
leaned overwhelmingly toward the pathological perspective. Johnson and Nieto (2007)
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analyzed topics and text used to incorporate a cultural deaf perspective into Multicultural
Educational texts and recommends that a cultural perspective be incorporated in the
future.
No studies were found that analyzed the portrayal of Deaf characters in children’s
educational television programming, even though Sesame Street, for example, has
incorporated a Deaf character since 1971. Since previous work has demonstrated that
children are affected by portrayals of minority characters and behaviors, it is instructive to
examine the portrayal of Deaf characters in educational television.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this study is to analyze the portrayal of deaf characters in several
popular children’s educational television programs. Keeping in mind the key aspects of
bilingual education; respect of the native language, respect of native culture, and
developing self-esteem, the research questions guiding this study were as follows: how
frequently do programs incorporate the term “ASL” and portray it conventionally with
respect to grammatical, conceptual, and communicative interaction? What types of
communication strategies/modes are used other than ASL? What are the portrayals of deaf
characters from a cultural perspective? What are the portrayals of deaf characters from a
pathological perspective?

Methods
I conducted a content analysis in order to analyze the portrayal of deaf characters in
several popular children’s educational television programs. In the Children’s Television Act
(1990), “children’s educational television was defined as: programs that encourage children
to learn important information, skills, values, and behavior while entertaining them and
exciting their curiosity to learn about the world around them (Sec 101) (1).” I further
narrowed this by focusing on television programs targeted toward children aged five and
under.
First, I conducted an online search of American educational television programs with
deaf characters. I was only able to locate three different children’s educational programs
incorporating deaf characters: Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, and Blue’s Clues. Although
additional episodes exist, after an extensive search I was only able to obtain copies of three
 DEAF CHARACTERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS 253

episodes of these three different television programs: “Silent Lotus” (Reading Rainbow,
1993), “All Kinds of Signs” (Blue’s Clues, 2001), and “Bob’s Deaf Niece” (Sesame Street, 2005).
After viewing each of these episodes, I transcribed them. Once the episodes were
transcribed, I looked for messages that contained interactions with deaf characters and
looked specifically at communication style, and language used with the deaf characters.
I then coded these transcribed messages into pathological or cultural categories based on
analyses of Special Education and Multicultural Educational texts (Hoffmeister, 1996;
Johnson & Nieto, 2007). Each category was counted for frequency and numbers were
tallied. Overall totals were compared for frequency of pathological versus cultural
terminology. Episodes were also coded for frequency of use of communication modes.
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Coding
In order to answer each of the research questions previously mentioned, I coded each
episode according to the following themes: medical terms, communication modes and
terminology, communication access, Deaf culture.
. Medical terms or representations of deafness: inability to hear, inability to speak,
mainstreaming, focus on how deaf people speak or learn to speak.
. Communication modes and terminology: signing, sign language (as a mode of
communication rather than a language), gestures, miming, American Sign Language,
lipreading, talking, and signing at the same time.
. Communication access: ability to see communication between characters, presentation of
both hands and face at the same time, clear understanding that the deaf character
understood what was being said to them.
. Mentioning or portraying Deaf culture and its characteristics: Deaf adults or Deaf children
interacting, using an interpreter to communicate, technology for the Deaf, Deaf
community, Deaf theater, Deaf poetry, ASL, residential schools for the Deaf.

Episode Descriptions
Reading Rainbow. Reading Rainbow was created in 1983 for children between the
ages of 4 –8 with its primary purpose being to expose children to quality literature. The
program is based on the premise that reading aloud is one of the most important things
that young children can be exposed to (Graham, Vandergriff, & Burke, 2001), and through
read alouds the goal is to holistically integrate diverse culture, language, and life
experiences into all content areas (Graham et al., 2001).
In 1993, Reading Rainbow produced an episode called “The Silent Lotus.” There are
three segments to this episode. The first includes a story based on a girl who cannot hear or
speak, and uses dance as a form of communication. As a supplement to the story, they
interview a deaf actress who teaches some sign language. The episode concludes with a
segment about a deaf boy named Brian. The focus of this segment is Brian’s involvement in
a dance company.

Sesame Street. As previously mentioned, Sesame Street has incorporated minority

cultures into their curriculum since its inception. The program has had a deaf character
named Linda Bove included in various episodes over the years. In 2005, an episode aired
 254 DEBBIE B. GOLOS

entitled “Bob’s Deaf Niece.” There are several segments during the program that include
Bob’s niece, Samara. In the first segment, two Muppets are playing tag and want to play
with Samara. Bob arrives, introduces his niece, and explains that she cannot hear. He shows
the Muppets that they need to tap her in order to get her attention. They talk about how
signing is cool and suggest that the Muppets should make friends with her.
During the next segment, one baby Muppet is gesturing and they need Samara to
help them figure out what he is saying. She is able to do so easily and quickly. She then
teaches them some signs. The signs she teaches them are all iconic signs and look similar to
gestures. This enables the other Muppets to guess the meaning.
A different segment in this episode does not include Samara, but includes Deaf
actress Linda Bove. Linda has been a regular character on Sesame Street since the 1970s
(Fisch & Truglio, 2001). In this segment another character is playing a musical instrument
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and Linda is awaiting her turn to tap a cymbal.

Blue’s Clues. Blue’s Clues was created in the early 1990s. The goal of Blue’s Clues is to
provide viewers with a series of increasingly difficult clues to help them guess the answer
to the puzzle at the end of the show (Gladwell, 2000). The program is targeted toward 2- to
4-year-old children to help them develop their cognitive and problem-solving skills. Each
episode is aired multiple times within one week with the hopes that viewers will be able to
figure out the answers by the end of the week.
In the targeted episode, called “All Kinds of Signs” (2001), the main character, Steve,
introduces all different kinds of signs, including sign language. This episode, like the other
two programs, incorporates deaf characters in several different segments. In the first
segment, Steve talks with his friend Marlee Matlin, a well-known Deaf actress. In the second
segment Steve receives a letter from some deaf friends and immediately following there is
an animated segment with characters telling a story in sign language. The episode
concludes with a conversation between Marlee and Steve about books.

Findings
Reading Rainbow
As indicated in Table 1, throughout the episode, the characters use pathological
terms 64 times in the episode as opposed to only one cultural term.

TABLE 1
Frequency of pathological terms
Reading Rainbow Blue’s Clues Sesame Street Total No. of Times
Can’t hear 10 1 5 16
Deaf * 25 2 2 29
Sign 16 7 3 26
Inability to speak 2 0 2 4
Deaf voice 8 0 0 8
Talk slow 1 0 0 1
Regular school 1 0 0 1
Lipreading 1 0 1 2
Total 64 10 13 88

Note. *Deaf in this category refers to medical deafness as opposed to a member of the Deaf community.
 DEAF CHARACTERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS 255

The primary focus of the interview segment is on Terrylene’s inability to hear. LeVar
mentions her inability to hear ten times during the interview and her inability to speak
twice. He also emphasizes that her voice is different. He refers to her “deaf voice” eight
times. In the following exchange, he asks her how she can understand what he is saying if
she cannot hear:
LeVar: How is it that you understand me so well?
Terrylene: You take the time to communicate. You talk slowly and take the time to move
your hands and communicate with me.
LeVar: Tell me though about your voice because your voice and my voice sound
completely different. Why is that?
Terrylene (Laughs): I think its cause I can’t hear my voice—I can’t control it. (Reading
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Rainbow, 1993)

Terrylene is a renowned Deaf actress, fluent user of ASL and a member of the Deaf
community. There is no mention of her work in theater or television, of ASL, or mention of
the Deaf community. When Terrylene expresses herself, she speaks and signs at the same
time, and since LeVar does not know how to sign, she lipreads what he says.
Also, LeVar refers to signing as a form of communication rather than
acknowledging it as a language when he says, “There is a way to speak using your
hands” (Reading Rainbow, 1993). Terrylene teaches the audience several signs, but there is
no mention of ASL. The signs they choose to teach are more iconic signs. For example,
she teaches him the sign for boy and explains that the sign comes from a boy wearing a
cap. However, most signs are not iconic and are not gestures that others might be able to
guess (e.g. previous example of HELP). She does not teach him any sentences. As shown
in Table 2, the majority of communication with the deaf characters in this episode is
either by talking and signing at the same time or with lipreading. They do not portray any
representation of ASL.
In the third segment, the interview with Brian shows that even though he is deaf, he
can do things like any hearing child.
Brian: In the future I want to become a doctor. Because I can do it. Some doctors are deaf
cause my mom saw a doctor who was deaf and I was proud . . . I’m going to become a
doctor when I grow up cause I can do anything I want to. (Reading Rainbow, 1993)

TABLE 2
Frequency of cultural terms used
Reading Sesame Total No.
Rainbow Blue’s Clues Street of Times
Technology—TTY 1 0 0 1
Deaf interactions (with other deaf) S S 0 0
Deaf school 0 0 0 0
ASL 0 4 0 4
Deaf wave 0 S 0 0
Deaf culture 0 0 0 0
Deaf community 0 0 0 0
Deaf arts (theater, poetry) 0 0 0 0
Total 1 4 0 5

Note. S indicates that the element is shown but not discussed.

 256 DEBBIE B. GOLOS

Although the episode concludes on a positive note portraying Brian as a positive

role model, the primary focus of the episode is how deaf people are similar to hearing
people. Terrylene can lipread and speak. Brian is mainstreamed with hearing children
at his school, and also belongs to a dance company with hearing children and a
hearing instructor.

Sesame Street
In the first segment of “Bob’s Deaf Niece” (2005), Bob introduces his niece Samara
explaining that she is deaf and cannot hear. He uses the phrase “can’t hear” five times.
He mentions her inability to speak two times. He compares sign language to gesturing and
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talks to the Muppets about how they already know a kind of sign language when they
shake their head and do other gestures.
During the next segment, Samara teaches the other characters some signs. The signs
she teaches them are all iconic signs and look similar to gestures. This enables the other
Muppets to guess the meaning. The signs they choose are random and have nothing to do
with the plot of the episode as is found in the following excerpt from Sesame Street (2005):
Samara: See if you can guess what these signs mean.
Muppet: It looks like a book.
Samara: Right that’s the sign for book. This is the sign for car.

The signs book and car are not related to the plot of this segment. They also are signs
that are easy for someone without knowledge of ASL to guess. Furthermore, there is no
mention of ASL or sign as a language. Samara is also not signing ASL; she is signing in
English-based word order (or a pidgin form of ASL). As indicated in Table 3, the primary
mode of communication with the deaf character is either by talking and signing at the same
time or by using a pidgin form of signing.
In addition, during this segment, Samara is with one man and several other Muppets,
but she does not look at the other characters. She is frequently looking off screen or directly
at the camera rather than at the character who is talking (or signing). Based on her facial
expressions, it appears as though she is not quite sure what is going on around her. The
Muppets speak to her and she signs back. Throughout the episode there is over 2 minutes
where the deaf character is not looking at the person who is signing or talking to her (see
Table 3). This portrays deaf people as “lipreaders” who can communicate without having to
look at a person who they are communicating with.

TABLE 3
Communication style in 28 minutes of programming
Reading Rainbow Blue’s Clues Sesame Street
ASL 1 1 0
Pidgin sign 1 1 2
Sign/talk same time 2 3 3
Gesture 1 1 1
Lipreading 2 1 1
Deaf character not watching signing 0 0 3

Note. 0 ¼ does not exist, 1 ¼ less than 1 minute, 2 ¼ between 1 and 2 minutes, 3 ¼ more than 2 minutes.
 DEAF CHARACTERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS 257

The one cultural language portrayal occurs when Samara fingerspells the alphabet
and they have the English printed letters above it. This shows a connection between
signing and English print. There is no mention of any cultural terms in this episode.
A different segment in this episode does not include Samara, but includes Deaf
actress Linda Bove. Linda has been a regular character on Sesame Street since the 1970s
(Fisch & Truglio, 2001). The segment that includes Deaf actress Linda Bove portrays the
actress as excited about playing music as she anxiously awaits her turn to tap the cymbal. It
is particularly interesting that they chose a music scene, since Linda would be unable to
hear the music. There was no explanation around the scene to help understand what the
intention was.
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Blue’s Clues
During the first segment of the Blue’s Clues episode “All Kinds of Signs” (2001), Steve is
communicating with his Deaf friend and well-known actress Marlee Matlin. They do not call
any attention to the fact that she is deaf. He tells the viewers that they will be learning some
ASL from his friend. Marlee signs without voice and even though Steve is just learning to sign,
he interprets what she says. Although Steve signs and talks at the same time and only signs
several signs to represent full sentences, Marlee signs accurate ASL (see Table 3 for frequency).
Throughout the program Steve uses the term ASL four times and explains that he is
learning ASL (see Table 2). Even though he does not sign complete sentences, he does sign
conceptually accurate signs. For example, instead of signing HELP and ME, he uses the
directional verb, HELP-ME with the sign HELP coming in toward the chest (previously
described). He also reinforces signs throughout the episode and in contrast to the other
two programs, he signs words that are not iconic (e.g. HELP–ME).
During the segment in which Steve receives a letter from his friends, he opens the
letter to see a group of deaf children signing. They use ASL and do not use their voices.
They also expose the audience to more signs than the other two programs.
Here is an example from Blue’s Clues (2001) of a group of children signing:
Hi Steve!
Good morning sun.
Good morning Blue.
Have a wonderful day.

During this segment Steve shows that he has friends who are deaf and use ASL
without calling attention to the fact that they are deaf or that they use ASL. He does not
mention anything about them speaking or lipreading, but he just acknowledges that he is
receiving a letter from his friends. He does not mention ASL or Deaf culture.
In the following segment, two animated characters are shown (one who is deaf)
signing a story. There is no captioning but Steve guesses what they say and the characters
nod that he is correct. He asks the audience to help him guess the signs that he does not
understand. There are several things that are not realistic in this segment. First, the
characters have very minimal facial expressions. Mostly, there face is in a “half smile”
expression with the corner of the mouth going up to one side or the other. Their facial
expressions do not at all match what they are signing. Since facial expressions are
significant to ASL grammar (Lane et al., 1996), the characters in this segment are unable to
incorporate correct ASL grammar.
 258 DEBBIE B. GOLOS

Overall there is only one mention of lipreading, and one mention of the inability to
hear. While they do use ASL this only occurs for less than a minute throughout the program;
the majority of the interaction with deaf characters is talking and signing at the same time
(see Table 3).

Discussion
In each of these three episodes, content analysis was used to investigate how one
episode from three different educational television programs portrayed the following three
characteristics specifically related to the Deaf population: respect of native culture, respect
of native language, and development of self-esteem.
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Frequency and Use of ASL

In order to answer the first research question, I examined the types of signs that were
used. In addition, I counted the frequency with which characters mentioned the term
American Sign Language. For two out of the three episodes there was no mention of ASL.
Although both Sesame Street (2005) and Reading Rainbow (1993) taught signs to the
audience, the signs that were shown were iconic, looking similar to gestures for which one
might be able to guess the meaning. They did not model ASL. In the Sesame Street episode,
even the deaf character did not sign ASL. However, although there was no mention of ASL
in Reading Rainbow (1993), there was one clip of Bryan signing with other deaf children.
During this clip one of the children signed ASL, but no attention was called to it. While Blue’s
Clues mentioned ASL four times, and used conceptually accurate signs, the majority of
signed communication was talking and signing at the same time.
In order to accurately portray ASL communication strategies on television, deaf
characters must be able to look at each other, and see each other’s facial expressions.
In Sesame Street (2005), Samara often was not looking at the other characters while they
were talking, perhaps because she did not understand what has happening. Therefore, this
scene does not depict a realistic representation of communication with someone who is
deaf. In both Reading Rainbow (1993) and Sesame Street (2005), the only characters who
were signing were communicating with people who were speaking to them. Hence, they
did not portray ASL communicative strategies.
Blue’s Clues (2001) was the only episode that used the term ASL. Marlee signed ASL
and Steve signed some conceptually accurate signs. The children from whom Steve
received a letter also signed ASL. The only inaccurate representation was during the
animated segment. This was due to the fact that the animated characters displayed minimal
facial expressions which did not accurately match what they were signing thus making it
difficult to sign ASL.
Since ASL was recognized as an official language in the 1970s (Lane, 1992) and over
one million people use ASL today, it is curious that there is no mention of ASL in either
Reading Rainbow (1993) or Sesame Street (2005), especially since Sesame Street was the most
recently filmed of the three episodes. One would think that even Reading Rainbow, filmed in
1993, might have at least mentioned it. It is curious that these two programs do not
acknowledge or portray ASL. While this may not have been the intention of the producers,
it presents a pathological perspective of deafness by showing a lack of recognition of the
native language and culture of the Deaf community.
 DEAF CHARACTERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS 259

Communication Strategies Used

Several types of communication strategies were used in the three episodes other
than ASL: talking and signing at the same time, a pidgin form of sign, or lipreading. The
majority of communication was talking and signing at the same time.
As previously mentioned, in Reading Rainbow (1993), LeVar communicates with
Terrylene through lipreading, speech, and signing. In addition, Terrylene referenced LeVar’s
ability to “talk slowly” and LeVar referred to signing as “moving your hands to communicate”
(Reading Rainbow, 1993). At the beginning of the episode there were several close ups of
mouths moving followed by people gesturing. All evidence again leads the audience to
believe that sign language is a type of gesture. LeVar talks about people gesturing every day
and a mime is used as an example of communicating without talking. He repeatedly uses
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phrases such as, “using your hands,” “your hands represent an English word,” “gesturing,”
and “speak without using words.” These are all indications that signing appears to be either
gestures or English words on the hands.
The Sesame Street (2005) episode also refers to sign language in a similar manner to
the Reading Rainbow (1993) episode. They gesture several times throughout the show and
although they do not use the word “lipreading,” the indication is that it is how Samara
communicates with the Muppets. However, for over 2 minutes she is not looking at the
other characters on the screen which, no matter which type of communication strategy
used, would make it impossible for her to comprehend any of the conversation. In addition,
although they do not call attention to it, Samara signs in English word order rather than
signing in ASL structure.
Since Blue’s Clues (2001) uses and references ASL, this episode includes the
acknowledgment of ASL as a language. While there is one instance where they mention
lipreading, they do not make a comparison between gesturing or miming and signing as in
the other two programs’ episodes. However, the majority of the communication is talking
and signing at the same time.
As previously mentioned it is physically impossible to speak fluent English and sign
fluent ASL at the same time. Thus, by talking and signing at the same time, the message to
the audience is that signing is not a language but is like English on the hands. It also
reinforces a pathological perspective by emphasizing that signing is similar to a gestural
system rather than acknowledging or appreciating it as a full language and also reinforces
the false stereotype that deaf people are skilled lipreaders.

Portrayals of Deaf Characters from a Pathological Perspective

According to pathological and disability models, deafness is seen as a disability;
something that needs to be fixed (Lane, 1992). Key elements of a pathological perspective
are oral communication (e.g. speaking, lipreading) and emphasis on the inability to hear
(Lane, 1992).
In two out of the three episodes, there is a good deal of emphasis on speech and/or
lipreading. Both the Sesame Street (2005) and Reading Rainbow (1993) episodes use the
phrases “inability to talk,” “inability to speak,” or “lipreading,” and especially emphasize the
fact that when a person is deaf, he or she “cannot hear.” Blue’s Clues (2001), on the other
hand, only mentions the terms “can’t hear” and “lipreading” once. In the Reading Rainbow
episode, they explicitly refer to the fact that Terrylene has good speech and can lipread
 260 DEBBIE B. GOLOS

what LeVar is saying. In Sesame Street, there appears to be an assumption that Samara
understands other characters through lipreading, and in Blue’s Clues, Marlee Matlin says
that she can understand Steve through lipreading.
Another aspect of the pathological perspective is showing that deaf people are the
same as hearing people (rather than valuing their differences). In Reading Rainbow (1993),
they interviewed one deaf person who could speak and lipread and another who was in a
dance club with a hearing instructor who signed. This focuses on the fact that even though
they are deaf, they can enjoy music, speak and communicate similarly to hearing people.
They also chose a child who attended a mainstreamed school integrated with hearing
children rather than a child who attended a residential school for the Deaf who participated
in Deaf events (e.g. sports or theater). This is a mainstream pathological perspective of how
deaf people should fit into a hearing world.
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Neither the Sesame Street episode or Blue’s Clues had any reference to Deaf culture or
the Deaf community.

Portrayals of Deaf Children from a Cultural Perspective

According to Kannapell (1989), “to reject ASL is to reject the Deaf person” (p. 22).
Therefore, when considering whether these episodes portray a cultural model of Deaf
children, ASL must be taken into account. As previously mentioned, neither Sesame Street
(2005) or Reading Rainbow (1993) incorporates ASL. Most of the deaf characters either talk
and sign at the same time or sign in English word order. The focus is clearly more on
lipreading rather than on ASL. That they do not acknowledge ASL sends the wrong
message about sign language to children. It shows the language as a gestural system rather
than respecting the complexity of a full language.
According to Sesame Street research, it is important for children to see representations
of themselves on television (Fisch & Truglio, 2001). One positive aspect about all of the
programs is that they do have deaf characters. Sesame Street incorporates a deaf child and
an adult. Blue’s Clues (2001) has a Deaf adult and a group of deaf children in the episode. It is
also positive that the Reading Rainbow episode incorporates a short clip with deaf children
interacting and that Sesame Street includes a deaf child. However, none of these episodes
show any Deaf adults interacting with other Deaf adults or Deaf adults interacting with Deaf
children. It is particularly curious that Sesame Street has a Deaf adult (Linda Bove) on the
show yet they do not have her interacting with the deaf child, Samara, in this episode. None
of these programs show the deaf characters interacting within the Deaf community.
There are also some positive cultural messages. We see Brian in Reading Rainbow
(1993) as a role model for other deaf children because he acknowledges that he has seen a
doctor who was deaf and says that he can be a doctor too. In addition, Marlee Matlin signs
ASL and in the final segment of Blue’s Clues (2001), her character is portrayed as a librarian,
showing that Deaf adults can have jobs like anyone else.
Blue’s Clues (2001) also shows positive cultural role models by showing the group of
deaf children signing to Steve in ASL. They mention that ASL is a language and show
enthusiasm for learning it. The episode also shows a number of deaf children signing ASL.
Even though Marlee does lipread, that is not the focus of the segment and Steve learns sign
so she does not have to lipread him.
In none of the three episodes is there mention of anything related to Deaf
community activities. There is no discussion related to residential schools for the Deaf, Deaf
 DEAF CHARACTERS: CONTENT ANALYSIS 261

clubs, Deaf sports teams, Deaf theater, Deaf community members, or other social activities
within the Deaf community. There is also no mention of Deaf culture, Deaf poetry, ASL as a
rich language (or language at all), or ASL poetry. Although Blue’s Clues (2001) provides a few
features that represent a cultural perspective, there are still key elements that are missing.

Conclusions
In 1988, Schuchman revealed that the media views deafness from a deficit model by
focusing on what the deaf person cannot do rather than acknowledging them as members
of a Deaf community with their own rich language, ASL. Each of the episodes analyzed in
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this study was filmed post-1988. While strides have been taken, it appears as though
educational television programs still portray deafness from a pathological rather than
cultural perspective.
It is interesting that these episodes were made over a 15-year period of time and yet
there are many similarities. In all three episodes, there is either emphasis or mention of oral
modes of communication, such as lipreading, speaking, or lack of hearing. There is little
recognition of sign language as a language. Two of the three programs compare signing to
other types of nonverbal communication, such as gestures or signs. In addition, while there
is reference to the Deaf community, such as showing pictures of deaf children signing
together (Reading Rainbow, 1993; Blue’s Clues, 2001), none of the episodes contain explicit
acknowledgment of the Deaf community or Deaf culture.
A vast majority of deaf people do not speak English intelligibly or have good speech-
reading skills. Of the small minority of deaf people with intelligible speech and good
lipreading skills, most of these people became deaf after learning spoken English (Lane
et al., 1996). There are also deaf people in the world who have some speech ability but
choose not to use it because when hearing people hear their imperfect voice, they often
equate that to their intellect. By characterizing deaf people as lipreaders they are
perpetuating false stereotypes of deaf people.
Blue’s Clues shows the most promise by acknowledging ASL as a language and
portraying conceptually accurate signs. However, much more could be incorporated into
these programs to portray a more cultural perspective.
In the Reading Rainbow episode, they could have just as easily chosen a Deaf
character who signed ASL but communicated with other Deaf people in ASL and
communicated with hearing people by writing English or through an interpreter. They
could have shown a deaf child who attended a residential school for the Deaf who was in
a theatrical play with a Deaf director or on a basketball team with a Deaf coach or even on a
dance team with a Deaf director. This would have portrayed the deaf characters from a
cultural perspective showing respect for their native culture and language.
In the Sesame Street episode they could have emphasized the similarities with ASL
and other languages such as Spanish (which is already incorporated into the program)
rather than comparing it with gestures. They could have also mentioned how different
countries sign different signed languages. They could have also used an interpreter for
Samara to communicate with the other characters rather than having her look off screen. In
Blue’s Clues, they could have created animated characters that were able to show facial
expression so they could tell the story in ASL.
 262 DEBBIE B. GOLOS

Research on children’s educational television programs has shown that viewing these
programs can have a positive effect on children’s views of different cultures. Countries around
the world have their own Deaf communities and signed languages. If children’s educational
television took the lead to portray deaf characters from a cultural perspective valuing their
native signed languages and Deaf communities, there might be an overall shift in perspective
of Deaf people with rich language and culture rather than from a pathological or disability
model of people who need to be “fixed.” Instead of emphasizing deaf characters who know
how to speak and lipread, educational programs should have Deaf characters communicating
in ASL. In addition, they could show Deaf children and Deaf adults in the Deaf community
interacting with other children and adults, in the workplace, in school, and in social activities.
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Limitations
I was only able to locate three episodes which included deaf characters, though more
exist (it should be noted that there was an episode of Sesame Street which included
members of the National Theater of the Deaf; however, I was unable to obtain this episode).
However, that I was only able to such a small number may be due to symbolic annihilation,
a trend of excluding deaf people from the general media. Although three episodes is a
small sample, the results indicate that this is a topic worth further exploring. While it is
difficult to generalize the results to all children’s educational television programming, the
results indicate a possibility that additional episodes portray deafness from a pathological
rather than cultural model.

Implications for Future Research

While studies have shown that educational programs can have a positive effect on
children’s prosocial skills and racial interactions (e.g. Berry & Asamen, 1993), there is limited
evidence related to the effect it could have on either deaf or hearing children regarding
their view of deaf people. A more extensive analysis should be conducted on a larger scale
to include more episodes of a variety of programs. This study was limited to children’s
educational programs in the United States. It would also be informative to examine the
portrayal of deaf characters internationally. In addition to educational television, we need
more studies related to the portrayal of deafness in the larger world of media including
entertainment television programming and films.
Previous research also indicates that while minorities have been negatively portrayed
in general television programs, educational television has been the exception. Results of
this study indicate the possibility that educational television programming still does not
portray deafness culturally. Once we learn more about what cultural aspects are present
and what are not, we can strive to improve the portrayal of deafness to follow a cultural
perspective in all media.

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Debbie B. Golos PhD is an Assistant Professor of Deaf Education at Utah State University.
The focus of her research is on emergent literacy, bilingual Deaf education, and
educational television; specifically developing educational videos in ASL for
preschool children and researching the effects of these videos on literacy,
language, and cultural development. Email: Debbie.golos@usu.edu