From: "Derrick & Melissa Smith" <adsmes@aug.com>

I may be way out of line, but there is one thing that really bothers me. 
As a parent of a profoundly deaf child, I am happy to see deaf people on
television in any capacity.  I like the fact that I can point out deaf
actors to my child so that he knows he is capable of doing anything that he
wants.  What I do not like is that television shows almost always have a
deaf person signing to people, but the people communicating with the deaf
person are always talking and not signing.  It is as if the deaf person is
reading 100 percent of the hearing person's lips.  With portrayals like
this, I have to constantly defend why I don't teach my child to lip-read. 
I do not mind that my child basically uses sign language for 100 percent of
his communication.  He understands sign language, it is his language and he
learns far more in school from using sign language than guessing what
someone is saying.  I think it is wonderful that deaf people have roles on
television.  I just wish that the public would not compare my son to what
they see on television.  The same goes for the deaf Ms. America.  I am
happy that she can speak and read lips, but all deaf people are not capable
of doing so and I hate it for the deaf people that are seen as failures for
not being able to do so.