
About Clarke Speaks Up
Families and professionals rely on Clarke Speaks Up to learn about uplifting stories from the Clarke community and up-and-coming news from a leader in the field.
The Clarke Speaks Up blog is the exciting evolution of the annually released Clarke Speaks magazine, allowing Clarke to publish content on a regular basis for our community.
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With Clarke’s support, families learn various listening and spoken language (LSL) strategies to support language development through play and age-appropriate activities, and share experiences and questions with other families in Clarke’s support groups.
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When children who are deaf or hard of hearing don’t see themselves reflected in pop culture, sports, television and positions of leadership, it’s natural to wonder where or how they fit in.
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“When I was growing up, I didn’t see any meaningful representation of deaf people,” says Torin Early, Clarke alum and college student at UMass Amherst.
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“Specifically in media such as television, representation of deaf/hard of hearing people can be disappointing. There is often a lot of inaccuracy and perpetuation of stereotypes,” says Juliet Corwin, Clarke alum and high school student.
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“When my mom was looking for a ballet class… she was told, ‘No, sorry. I cannot take her in. Deaf children don’t dance. It’s going to be too difficult, and I don’t have time for this,’” says Simoné Welgemoed, a professional ballerina who is deaf.
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In 2020, American Girl doll Joss Kendrick—a surfer who wears hearing aids—was selected as “Girl of the Year.”
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“Pop culture is such a great educator,” says screenwriter Alexandra Dean Grossi. “And there is so much confusion around the deaf experience… I want to show there’s no right way to be deaf.”
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“All of the characters in my book represent one or several students that I’ve had throughout my career in deaf education,” says Jessica Jordan-Hogan, teacher of the deaf and children’s author.
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Like most caregivers who discover their child was born with a hearing loss, Nina and Spencer worried at first how their infant daughter would communicate and if she would struggle academically and socially.
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