24th August 1965, Morton Grove Illinois, USA. Libby and Donald Matlin, an automobile dealer, were blessed with a baby girl , their third child . The hardworking parents began raising the girl with love and care , but when the girl was eighteen months old she fell ill . The illness was so severe that it permanently destroyed her hearing in the right ear and 80 percent in the left ear , making her legally deaf.
This is the story of Marlee Matlin , who inspite of being legally deaf , excelled as an actor , director , writer and activist .
Blessed with a strong will , Marlee began learning the sign language around the age of 5 and developed an interest in acting on stage . Right through childhood and into adulthood , she pursued her interest with great zeal and success . She even secured her education with a Degree in Law enforcement . Her handicap never being a hindrance in whatever she wanted to do. She was supremely self confident , independent and to an extent stubborn in achieving what she wanted.
She continued working in the Chicago theatre scene for several years until she got her big break when she was signed to play Sarah , the lead role of a deaf young woman working as a custodian in a school for the hearing impaired and her relationship with a speech therapist , in the film ‘ Children of a Lesser God ‘ . The film directed by Randa Haines was an adaptation of a play with the same name which had won huge accolades on Broadway.
The film opened to theatres in 1986 and garnered massive critical acclaim as well as commercial success. Marlee Matlin’s performance was hugely appreciated worldwide and at the age of 21 she went on to win the Oscar and the Golden Globe award for Best Actress apart from several other awards and nominations. Marlee became the youngest Best Actress Award winner at the Oscars and also the only hearing impaired actress to do so.
Marlee went to act in several other films and ventured eventually into Direction and writing and kept on adding to her accomplishments. She was a strong proponent of the sign language and advocated it as a true activist. 23rd September , is celebrated as the International Day of Sign Languages ,one of the reasons of writing this blog.
The accomplishments of Marlee Matlin are a huge inspiration and it would be fare to say that she has made the world know that people with an impaired hearing can do anything ….except hear, may be.