No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie

Gr 4–8—In this amiable family drama full of humor, Jacob (Zane Hencker), a middle-class Deaf fifth grader, is lonely in his suburban Los Angeles school. He cannot hear his teacher in his inclusive classroom, and he routinely gets teased and bullied for being Deaf. After school, he watches TV sensation SuperDeafy, whose show features sign language. Meanwhile, his hearing parents argue: What is the least restrictive environment for a Deaf child? His father wants him to learn lip reading, get a cochlear implant, and embrace the hearing world, while his mother prefers him to be in an American Sign Language (ASL) classroom so he can learn and thrive communicating in his strongest language, ASL. The scenes of parents, teachers, and administrators making the highly political decision of whether to teach a Deaf child ASL or lipreading are accurate and informative. When Tony Kane (John Maucere), the Deaf actor who plays SuperDeafy, and Jacob cross paths, they both change in dramatic ways. Tony confronts the fact that he plays the fool on his show, and he tries to find an honorable way to become a role model. Jacob, in turn, tries to pass as hearing, only to realize that he will never fit in unless his whole family starts to sign.