National Association of the Deaf

Submitted by Bobbie Beth.Scoggins on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 13:24

In 1969, the British rock group “The Who” recorded a two-record album titled “Tommy.” This album has a song entitled “Pinball Wizard.” The refrain to this song is:

That deaf, dumb and blind kid
Sure plays a mean pinball!

“The Who” played this song during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010.  Like the rest of the broadcast, and like over 80 percent of the commercials--it was closed-captioned. Many deaf and hard of hearing viewers saw these lyrics for the first time.

Needless to say, many of us reacted negatively. Why is this song being played in this day and age? The NAD briefly considered taking action. After all, one of our main roles is to advocate for and protect the rights of deaf and hard of hearing people.

We decided to find out more about “Tommy.” We want to share with you what we learned. We will talk more generally about the ways that people use “deaf”, “deaf-mute”, and “deaf and dumb” in a pejorative sense.

Tommy’s father disappeared while his mother was pregnant with him. After Tommy was born, his mother took on a new lover. Tommy’s father returned home and confronted Tommy’s mother and her lover. He killed the new lover.

Tommy’s parents wanted to cover up. They told Tommy that he did not see or hear what happened, and that he could never tell anyone what happened.

So Tommy became “deaf, dumb, and blind.” He was not really “deaf, dumb, and blind,” but he functioned this way. He becomes semi-catatonic. His parents and other relatives try many different ways over the years to restore his hearing, speech, and vision, but nothing works. In the process, they find out that he “sure plays a mean pinball.”

One doctor tells Tommy’s father that his symptoms are psychosomatic. Basically, they are “in his head.” Soon after that, Tommy’s mother becomes angry because Tommy is staring at a mirror and ignoring her. She smashes the mirror, and Tommy snaps back to reality.

Tommy becomes a guru. He tells his followers that that they must blind, deafen, and mute themselves to achieve enlightenment.

This is our best summary of the “Tommy” album. The 24 songs in the “Tommy” album tell this story in sequence, like an opera. In fact, this album is considered to be the first “rock opera” ever made.

Now, you must understand that “Tommy” is considered one of the top record albums of all time. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it 96th out of 500. VH1, an MTV cable channel, ranked it 90th out of 100. Q, a British music magazine, ranked it ninth out of all albums released between 1954 and 1969. It has been played countless times, and not just as an album. It has been adapted as a play, and it became a movie.

“The Who” originally had four members: Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, and John Entwistle. Only Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are still alive today. They have received many, many honors, including induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Two years ago, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey received for “The Who” the Kennedy Center Honors, the highest award our country gives for lifetime achievement in the performing arts. “The Who” was the first rock band ever to receive this award.

Pete Townshend has a significant hearing loss. He also suffers from tinnitus. If you have tinnitus—as many of us do—you know how debilitating it can be. Pete Townshend says that it because of long-term exposure to rock music. In 1989, Townshend gave a large sum of money to help form non-profit group Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers, or H.E.A.R.

We may not like the words “deaf, dumb, and blind” in “Tommy.” In fact, we don’t like them. But we must understand that they were written in a very different time. They must be seen in the context of that day and age. They must be seen as iconic in the music world. Perhaps Pete Townshend could have made some “apologetic” remarks before performing “Pinball Wizard” during halftime of the Super Bowl. But he didn’t.

This leads me to a more important point. We must continue to be vigilant—not hyper-vigilant, mind you—but vigilant all the same. We must ensure that we are not described by public officials and by the media in a derogatory way.

Not long ago, The Honorable Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, said that Toyota Motor Corporation was “safety-deaf.” This was very surprising coming from Mr. LaHood. When he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, he represented the Southern Illinois district that includes Jacksonville, where Illinois School for the Deaf is located. He was a very strong supporter of ISD. He also served on the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees for several years. If we were to meet with Mr. LaHood, we would say that there were other ways to express his concerns about Toyota. We believe that Mr. LaHood would recognize this immediately, and that he would even say that it was a poor choice of words.

We must educate people that the use of the word “deaf” should be appropriate. If you subscribe to Google Alerts and “deaf” is one of your keywords, you will see expressions in the media like “turn a deaf ear,” “won’t fall on deaf ears”, “tone-deaf”, and “deaf to reality”. You will also see “deaf-mute” and “deaf and dumb” used in newspaper articles—even at newspapers whose style guides prohibit them. Writers and editors make mistakes. We want to lessen these mistakes.

The NAD cannot “go after” each misuse of “deaf.” We depend on you—our members and our friends—to help us educate the nation and the world.

Let us come together to preserve our rights, as our founding members intended.

Thank you, and best wishes.