Marlee Matlin in 2022.Photo:Josh Telles/August
Josh Telles/August
For decades,Marlee Matlinhas been using her platform as an Oscar-winning actress to help the deaf and hard of hearing — and she’s not about to stop any time soon.
What keeps her going? “I love to bitch,” Matlin, 58, quips to PEOPLE through her longtime interpreter, Jack Jason.
She’s kidding — sorta. “I still have a lot within me,” she says. “I will continue to fight on behalf of what I think is necessary for my community and beyond.”
That instinct kicked in while she was watchingSuper Bowl LVIIIon Feb. 11 and felt a wave of disappointment. But her emotion had nothing to do with the final score.
Matlin, who is deaf, vented to her nearly 400,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter) and tagged CBS.
“I am absolutely SHOCKED at @CBS for introducing the Deaf performers at today’s pregame#SuperBowl and then not showing even one second (or more) of their performance… as has been tradition for the last 30 years. WHY!?” she wrote.
“I was one of millions of deaf and hard of hearing people who were excited to hear the announcement, ‘There is an interpreter here.’ They announced it on network television, our beautiful ASL language and our beautiful national anthem, and yet they didn’t show it,” says Matlin weeks later.
Recalling her social media post, Matlin says, “It’s important to acknowledge the lack of accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing in that particular moment.”
Marlee Matin and her family.Marlee Matlin/ Instagram
Marlee Matlin/ Instagram
She says she never heard back from CBS. (The network did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.)
It’s just the latest reminder that despite the work theCODAstar has done for decades with organizations like the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), the Starkey Hearing Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, there’s much room for improvement.
Marlee Matlin.Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
NAD’s goals include getting more ASL interpreters in senior facilities, providing resources for the parents of deaf babies and improving the well-being of deaf youth.
Matlin quips it doesn’t require “rocket science” to make a difference, just more collaboration between deaf and hearing people. In that spirit, she will continue to “make noise for access,” as she puts it. “It’s just part of who I am.”
source: people.com
