Rebecca A Withey: My response to the performances by deaf artists at the NFL Super Bowl

Excitement built amongst the deaf community last week when we received the announcement that deaf artists Sean Forbes, Wawa (Warren Snipe) and Sandra Mae Frank were going to be part of the half time Super Bowl performance.

Across their social media pages, we even saw posts from Sean and Wawa with hip hop legend Dre and we cheered as we found out that Sean would be performing Eminem’s classic ‘Lose Yourself’ in ASL – the track that actually sparked the start of Sean’s rapping career.

But then… the disappointment came. We realised that Sean and Wawa were not actually on stage performing with the artists, or even visible on American television. Instead they were sidelined, performing to a camera away from the main stage with deaf viewers having to watch the ASL performance from another online platform.

Adding insult to injury, Sandra Mae Frank’s glorious ASL performance of the National Anthem was spoilt by an unknowing passerby blocking the view of her signed song. Sandra Mae continued, like a sheer professional, but no doubt would have felt belittled by the lack of respect from those around her.

So, where were the people monitoring her screen? Why had nobody ensured the view of her performance remained clear? Would this have happened if it was a live singer?

As I watched the playback of the ASL performances by Sean and Wawa, I was astounded by how talented they are. Embodying the beat with every move and bounce, their signed rap flowed and swayed effortlessly. I have seen so many deaf rappers and I can assure you these guys are the cream of the crop. They truly deserved the mainstream platform.

This begs the question – why weren’t they performing on stage alongside the hearing artists?

If it comes down to the artist not wanting to share the stage then why couldn’t the ASL translation be at least shown on television as either an in-vision translation or split screen performance?

Why hire deaf performers but make accessing their work so difficult?

Sadly this is not an uncommon experience. Reflecting on all of the occasions where I have worked as a sign performer for a live singer, only once have I been invited to share the stage. Instead, the preference seems to be to have the signed song filmed off stage, out of view of the main artist and then accessed via a YouTube link later on.

Being a deaf sign performer is actually very different to working as a hearing interpreter, yet in the mainstream world there seems to be little distinction. I have been called an interpreter or a ‘signer’ endless times, and it seems several viewers in the US assumed the ASL performances were translations by hearing interpreters and not performances by deaf creatives.

A hearing viewer with no knowledge of ASL or the deaf community would have had no idea that the deaf performers at the Super Bowl were in fact artists in their own right. They wouldn’t know about the fan base these artists have or how important their presence is to millions of deaf people worldwide.

These non-signing viewers would also have no clue about the intricacies of the ASL performances which communicated so much to deaf viewers and the hours of rehearsal required to get the signed songs up to standard..

Seeing disappointments like this just emphasises the fact that the mainstream world still have so much to learn about deaf artists and, in particular, signed song performances.

Although I personally work in signed song, I am not yet convinced that the world of music sees how valuable signed song is. The tendency to keep it to one side of the stage or – at worst – hide it away, just proves that it is largely misunderstood and not held in high regard. By segregating the signed song, it reminds those who enjoy it and use it that they’re separate from the majority – and that’s not good.

I guess what we really need is just one artist to work with a deaf sign performer on stage, if only to show that it can be done. It would give deaf viewers the chance to see their role models on an equal platform alongside hearing performers, and it would give hearing viewers the opportunity to see just how gorgeous sign language fused into music is.

There will be more opportunities for deaf artists for sure and I truly hope we are edging closer and closer to the day we can scream with joy as we see someone ‘like us’ performing next to a mainstream artist.

Let’s keep asking questions, celebrate the achievements of members of our community and keep pushing for those equal platforms.

It can be done.

In the meantime, congratulations to Sean, Wawa and Sandra Mae – we are all very proud of you!

(Sean Forbes and I back in 2017!)

To see the ASL performances of the Super Bowl;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxgROPORQts

Rebecca Anne Withey is a freelance writer with a background in Performing Arts & Holistic health. She is also profoundly deaf, a sign language user and pretty great lipreader. She writes on varied topics close to her heart in the hope that they may serve to inspire others.