The Hearing Loss Californian, the newsletter for the Hearing Loss Association of America, just did a piece on “What’s Bugging Seth” and my experience with it. The best thing about this is that my company will be donating 25% to HLA for every DVD bought by a HLA member. So please be sure to enter HLA into the donation box when buying the DVD. (If you have any trouble, please email me and I will be sure to credit HLA on your behalf.)

I was recently invited by Grace Tiesson to join HLA (The Los Angeles Chapter) and it is a wonderful organization that strives to embrace all who have a hearing loss. My fellow members include people who are quite accomplished in their field and if you have a hearing loss you certainly have benefited from their efforts. For example, fellow member, Nanci Linke-Ellis heads InSight Cinema which is responsible for bringing countless of Open Captioned films to the theaters.

The thing that attracts me the most about this organization is that it strives to embrace all aspects of the hearing loss community. I am sure I’m not the only one who gets tired of all the in-fighting that goes on in the deaf/hearing loss community. Unfortunately, it seems to be far easier to focus on the differences and the negatives than it is to focus on the positives. However, I do believe we have far more in common than we do in differences and it’s time to embrace that. That’s why I became a member- to take a step in that direction.

For more info on HLA:

The National Organization

The Los Angeles Chapter

I just got another email asking me if the film is based on my life. For some reason this is one of the questions that I’ve been asked the most. It’s obvious why people ask that question: I’m deaf and Seth is deaf.

My answer has two parts. What happens in the film, the actual scenes, are not directly lifted from my life. I was never a bug man! (My grandfather did sell Bug Juice back in Chicago and that’s where I got the idea.) However, the themes of the film and what the characters, especially Seth, go through are based on my life experiences.   

One of the most important questions of the film is whether someone should date someone because they have disabilities in common or if they should go after true love. The answer is obviously true love- whether the person is disabled or “normal” bodied. But when one is young and figuring out their way through life the answer may not be so obvious. I know I dated several deaf girls because we made an instant connection over our disabilities. But was that enough to sustain a relationship if we didn’t have much else in common? In most cases it wasn’t. I did have one long term relationship with a deaf girl and that was because we had many things in common besides our deafness. I know quite a few couples that are disabled and happily in love and they always tell me that their disabilities are the least important thing to them. Its the other qualities- love, trust, humor- that matter more.

So in that case, what Seth struggled through on screen is based on what I eventually came to understand in real life.

I could point out several other things in the film that inspired me but that would turn this into a long blog. I’ll spare you and point out two more things. The speech that Carmen gives Seth in the end about how his mother taught him to speak is based on my mother and I. The story about Seth’s first word being “Ow” is the same for me. The other thing is music. Seth’s relationship with music is based on my relationship with it. I could never really hear music so I would read all about it. I often knew more about the bands than the people listening to the music!

I finally got the blog set up. For those of you who were asking about it, thanks for your patience.  So far, the DVD release has been amazing. I know many of you were waiting a long time to see the film and the feedback and response has been very positive.  While many in the States have bought the film what’s truly amazing to me is that people as far away as Croatia and Moscow have also bought the film. How they ever heard about the film- I have no idea except to chalk it up to the mysterious powers of the internet.   One of the main reasons why I’m setting up the blog is that I have received many personal emails about the film and many of you have asked me questions. I thought this would be a good format for us to have a discussion about the film on topics ranging from the making of the film to the surprise ending. So, any questions you have, fire away and I’ll be glad to address them.  Other news, “What’s Bugging Seth” recently screened at the Punky Lil’ Kid Film Festival in Monterey, where the film was shot. It was great to screen the film in front of a home crowd. Mika and David Leone put on a great festival and I hope it continues for many years.  On Wednesday, February 6th, “What’s Bugging Seth” will be screening in New York at the disTHIS! Film Series. It’s a very classy organization that shows disability through a whole new lens. So if you are a New Yorker or going to be in New York, you should check it out. Here’s the website: http://disthis.org/index.htm There’s more coming soon and I will keep you posted…