Oliver Sacks Quotes

I am fourth-generation deaf, which means everyone in my immediate family is deaf. So I grew up always having 100 percent accessibility to language and communication, which was wonderful and something so many deaf people don't have.

You see, the deaf have an intimacy with silence. It’s there in their dreams.

It was intimidating to play a deaf character. There's a whole culture in the deaf community and I really wanted to know a lot about that and honor it in the work.

Say what you want about the deaf.

Deaf people can do anything, except hear.

In the deaf community, in order to play a role of someone with a hearing loss... you have to have hearing loss.

I know a little bit about deaf culture because a friend of mine has been in the deaf culture for awhile. Over the course of 25 years, she and I have talked about many of the issues and concerns for deaf people and deaf culture.

Growing up, I was always involved in the deaf community.

I just have a connection with sign language. I always thought the deaf community was a different community to be a part of. In high school, me and my friend took sign language.

I was a sign language interpreter from when I was 17, but I don't do that anymore. Both of my parents were deaf. I grew up in a deaf household. I don't do any jokes about it really, but yeah that was my day job.

I started to realize that there are a lot of people who are unaware of deaf culture, and I've been given a great platform to reframe the deaf community.

To really understand a deaf person's experience, you need someone that is deaf to be able to tell you what their experience is.

I am the fourth generation of being deaf.

Since I knew my deaf identity since birth, it wasn't hard for me to be comfortable, confident, and independent in a hearing world.

Let your deafness no longer be a secret - even in art.

Raising awareness about the Deaf culture is a huge cause that I advocate. Because both of my parents are deaf, I am passionate about it in an entirely different way.

If someone says: "I don't want to have a cochlear implant, because I want my child to grow up with a rich sense of deaf culture," he must acknowledge that the deaf culture that exists in the world today has a different scale than the deaf culture that's likely to exist in the world 50 years from now.

How many deaf people do you know in real life? Unless they live in a cave, or are 14, which seems to be true for most people in this business, what could I possibly tell them that they don't already know?

I was born deaf. I was raised in a hearing world and in a deaf world at the same time. I can't say that I like one better than I like the other. I like them both. I speak pretty well; I gesture. If I don't understand something, you know, pen and paper, texting. I use it all.

At Gallaudet, deafness isn't an issue. You don't even think about it. Students can pay attention to accounting or psychology or journalism. But when a deaf person goes to another college, no matter how supportive it is, that person doesn't get the same access.

At the end of the day, 'My Deaf Family' is about a typical family that all of us can identify with but told from an unusual and what I believe will be a fascinating perspective.

There are two worlds: the deaf world and the hearing world. There are some people in the deaf community that feel that hearing people look down on us.

I know what it's like to be growing up, called 'deaf and mute' and 'deaf and dumb.' They're words that are very degrading and demeaning to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. It's almost... it's almost libelous, if you want to say that.

The deaf culture is portrayed very accurately on 'Switched at Birth' because the writers did the opposite of the norm. They did their homework before portraying anything on television.

In the deaf community, there are different types of people who have different philosophies. Some believe that they should only sign. Some believe they should only speak. Some people say you should use cued speech. Some say you should use cochlear implants. Some say you shouldn't sign. Some people say you should sign.