Embracing his deafness through art
Coral Wilson
Casey R. Weber walks, eats and studies alongside his classmates at
Orange Coast College, but because he is deaf, he said, he lives in a
completely different world.
“I have always wondered about who I really was,” Weber said.
“Sometimes, I ask myself, ‘Who am I? What is the purpose of my being
alive?’”
People shy away from him or walk away, embarrassed and awkward,
leaving him feeling lonely. The 25-year-old student is young, healthy
and goal-driven, but he said the feeling of separation is sometimes
overwhelming.
Weber was raised in a hearing family. People could not accept him
for who he was, he said. They tried to change Weber instead of trying
to understand him.
After taking sign language and deaf culture classes with John
Yingst at Golden West College, Weber said, he came away from his
studies with new dreams and a clearer understanding of himself.
“I finally realized who I really was. I’m Casey R. Weber and I’m
deaf,” he said.
With renewed passion for life, Weber is now on a mission to help
others understand the unique deaf culture.
“We have a culture of our own,” he said. “We have our own
language, values and culture. It need not be changed.”
He will be directing and performing in a one-act play that he
wrote called “My World and Yours.” The play will be presented during
Orange Coast College’s annual spring One-Act Play Festival from May
21 to May 25.
During the play, Weber will be singing and signing his poem, “As I
Dreamed ... “ He will play the lead role of Ryan, a deaf man who
falls in love with a hearing woman named Grace. The play portrays
Ryan’s struggles to be accepted by Grace, her father and the hearing
world.
In real life, Weber is in love with a deaf woman named Jennifer
Sieber, an art student in St. Louis, Mo. On a larger scale, the play
is about what it is like to be deaf in America.
“This play is 75% me and 25% fiction,” Weber said. “My goal is to
help the hearing world understand that many deaf have been facing
oppression.”
Some mental health service officials make the claim that deaf
people suffer from aggression, he said. And a speech therapist once
told Weber that the deaf should speak instead of using sign language.
“Some people have no respect for other cultures,” he said.
He said when parents have implants put in their deaf children, it
is a form of oppression. Instead of learning the child’s culture,
parents force them to conform, he said.
“I will not tolerate anyone calling the deaf hard-of-hearing or
hearing-impaired because it makes it sound like we can’t do anything
at all,” Weber said. “To us, it means damage, destroy, handicap, hurt
or ruin.”
Weber said he only understands 25% to 45% by reading lips versus
95% to 100% by reading sign language. But he said even his own family
never learned to sign, leaving him feeling like an outsider.
“In a family home, how can a deaf person handle all that family
matters without sign language?” Weber said. “Gestures work, I guess,
but I am talking about being in the heart of the family. Getting to
know Mama more was something special for me. If she knew sign
language, she would be my best friend.”
It happens again and again when people come over to talk. Once
they discover that Weber is deaf, they quickly make excuses and walk
away. Weber spent a lot of his life trying to fit in and feeling
lonely, until he found his true family.
“The deaf is my family,” Weber said. “Anybody who understands and
participates in the deaf culture are considered family, too. Without
the deaf language, there’s no bond. Without the deaf -- I’d be lost.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.