NFL's Derrick Coleman, Seattle Seahawks

Have you seen this commercial? Click here to view the commercial

It is the powerful and inspiration commercial for people who are not aware of the Deaf people’s struggles and what their life looks like. 

When I watched this video, and I do have my own opinions about it and  I also had a discussion with my friends who are Deaf. We all agreed that it is an impressive commercial, because it shows the awareness about Deaf Culture and their struggles that are unnoticeable but are common in our experience and life which is normal for us. My friends and I were very excited to learn that NFL has been accepting all players if even they are Deaf for example, this player, Derrick Coleman (Click here to learn more about him) was selected to play for Seattle Seahawks. However, of course we do have our opinion either positive or negative. Derrick Coleman considers himself as a Deaf person which we really respect his choice because we believe in our Deaf culture that all people who consider themselves as Deaf even if they can’t hear, cant’ speak , can speak or can hear.  “Deaf” does not mean all of us can’t hear, it is a something to identify us because Deaf itself has its own culture, language, norm, and history. 

Now, Derrick admit that he does not use sign to communicate because he uses hearing aids to hear and read lips however it has been a struggle life for him to be a part of "football world.  So, we wish that the commercial can include some sign language to raise awareness for the world that we do have our own language to communicate. We don't not want people to assume that we all could read lips or hear well if we had our hearing aids because this commercial obviously did not show any sign languages.  My friends and I had good debates about this but we all agreed that we were happy to see how the companies step out of comfort zone to include all diversity, disabilities or culture for their commercials.

What do you think after you saw this commercial; did it change your feeling or perspective toward Deaf community, or Duracell itself?