CODA's Oscar win puts deaf culture in spotlight, say Canadian child of deaf adults and CODA star's ASL tutor

When Jessica Brockway saw CODA, it brought her to tears. It marked the first time she'd ever seen her life — something she thought was uniquely hers — portrayed in mass media. 

CODA, which stands for child of deaf adults, won the best-picture Oscar on Sunday.

"It's the first time ever we've had a CODA culture on screen," said Brockway of London, Ont. "All of us CODAs ended up calling each other: 'Have you seen this movie?' Because it brought me to tears.'"

CODA follows teenage singer Ruby Rossi (played by Emilia Jones), the only hearing person in a tight-knit family of four, as she develops a passion for music and plans to attend university to study it. Jones's family is played by deaf actors Marlee Matlin, a previous Oscar winner, Troy Kotsur, who ended up winning the best-actor Academy Award, and Daniel Durant.

There's also a Canadian connection to the film: Toronto-based Anselmo DeSousa, an American Sign Language (ASL) tutor who worked with Jones to prepare her for her role.

Brockway, 29, learned sign language before English. It may be a Baby Einstein trend now, she said, but in her family, American Sign Language (ASL) was their mother tongue. 

WATCH | Jessica Brockway of London, Ont., on growing up with two deaf parents

Note: This video is closed captioned with simultaneous ASL interpretation by Billie-Anne Lecky.

"I kind of grew up with one foot in the deaf culture and one foot in the hearing culture," Brockway told CBC's London Morning.

"Society — whether it's right or wrong — pities deaf people, generally. And growing up, I got pitied," she said. "[CODA] never get to talk about it, or get to complain — because of course, when it comes to our parents, they have it 'worse off.' They have to access the world in a much more difficult way. They're much more misunderstood. 

"We're over here, kind of as this tool that gets used. We're never asked how we feel about the situation."

Brockway doesn't resent her role. She said growing up a CODA isn't so different from the experiences she's heard from children of first-generation Canadians. In both cases, children often end up a vital link between their parents and the rest of the world; translating everything from interactions at the grocery store to medical appointments.

The pull between duty to one's family and following your own passions is a central plot point in CODA, as Ruby is torn between being an interpreter between her family and the people in her small fishing village, and her dreams of going to school for music. 

Brockway said CODA often end up in one of two professions: ASL interpreter or teaching; that's where she landed — at the Robarts School for the Deaf in London, Ont.