As our culture has become more respectful of people's differences and identities, the conversation has grown around appropriation or the practice of mainstream actors playing minorities, which unfortunately prevents communities not often depicted on screen from taking ownership over their own stories.
Given that deaf people are rarely represented in media, some understandably get upset when hearing actors take these roles away from deaf ones, as has occurred in projects such as the limited series "The Stand," which prompted a protest from the deaf community (per The Hollywood Reporter). According to The Wrap, it is not uncommon for deaf actors to show up to an audition for a deaf character and find more hearing actors than non-hearing actors.
Handspeak.com, an online sign language resource, refers to the casting of hearing actors in deaf roles as "hear-washing," which they compare to the practice of whitewashing, a historically common practice in film and TV.
Julianne Moore has been accused of hear-washing after appearing as a deaf woman in Todd Haynes' 2017 film "Wonderstruck." While the younger version of the character Rose was played by deaf actor Millicent Simmonds, many took issue with the casting of Moore as the adult Rose. Even Moore admits that her sign language was subpar, as she stated to USA Today. "[Simmonds] was so nice about my signing, which is bad. It's like talking to a baby, I'm not kidding," Moore said.
