Last Tuesday, Peta Murgatroyd and her celebrity partner, Nyle DiMarco won ABC’s popular dance show, “Dancing with the Stars,” where celebrities who have had no prior dance knowledge are trained by professional ballroom dancers and compete against fellow couples each week. Every Tuesday, a couple gets voted off, determined by judges’ scores and audience votes. Every couple hopes to take home the disco ball trophy (known as the Mirror Ball) that comes with being crowned champion of that season of “Dancing with the Stars.”
In the 22nd season, Nyle and Peta were awarded that trophy. When they were announced as the winners, the crowd erupted in thunderous cheers. People screamed and shouted Nyle’s name throughout their onstage interview. However, Nyle couldn’t hear any of it. In fact, he hasn’t heard any of the applause that his passionate, technically sound dances have received through this whole season. Nyle has been deaf since birth.
Born into the fourth generation of a completely deaf family, Nyle has been part of the Deaf community all his life, attending schools like Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. (the United States’ only Deaf university) and becoming fluent in American Sign Language (ASL). Nyle was planning to become a math teacher when the masterminds behind the show “America’s Next Top Model” found him and his unusually good looks on Instagram, and asked him to compete on their last season.
Nyle accepted and found himself the winner at the end of the season, after facing challenges that might seem impossible for a deaf person, such as doing a photoshoot in the dark or performing in a music video. However, Nyle is nothing short of a risk taker, stating in an episode of “Dancing with the Stars” that the best year of his life was when he traveled the world without a language interpreter. His fearlessness and confidence led him to the position that he’s in today.
It was clear from the first week of the competition that Nyle was here not only to win, but also to represent the Deaf community. On May 23, after his last emotional dance to Disturbed’s rendition of “Sound of Silence,” he tweeted:
And inspire it did. The Mirror Ball was just the shining cherry on top of a season where a forgotten minority group got to have their chance in the spotlight. Nyle’s presence on the show and activism for the Deaf community inspired movements via hashtag on social media, such as #DeafCan and #RedefiningDance.
Josh Castille, a hard of hearing actor fresh off the successful Broadway run of Deaf West Theatre’s production of “Spring Awakening” says that Nyle’s win is important to the Deaf community because his presence “is the first nonverbal all ASL representation in mainstream media and the Deaf community needs that!” Josh also came into ABC’s “Dancing” studio to conduct interviews with the final three contestants, and the smile on Nyle’s face when Josh started signing to him is heartwarming.
Josh's interview with Nyle starts at 2:21
Nyle is also inspiring to the Deaf community in general. My sister Shayna, who has been hard of hearing and equipped with hearing aids since birth, says that Nyle “shows that deaf people can do anything and that they should push beyond their boundaries. A lot of people look down on the Deaf community, and I feel like him winning shows that they can do just as much as hearing people. Personally, he inspired me to do anything that I set my mind to.”
Nyle invokes this type of inspiration by not shying from his identity. He claims that he has “never wanted to hear, because that’s never existed in my life. I’m happy!” Having someone in the spotlight who embraces and celebrates their disability is such an important thing for the group that they represent. A popular narrative in regards to disabilities from the non-disabled populace is one that involves searching for cures or ways to better that person’s condition. Nyle openly accepts his deafness with no inhibitions or shame. In fact, he doesn’t even see it as something that disables him.
Nyle’s true worry seems to be for the Deaf community that might not be receiving the things they need. Nyle started an organization called The Nyle DiMarco Foundation which strives to end language deprivation (children being refused ASL education – Nyle claims that “it’s fine if parents want to get their kids implants or hearing aids…but…depriving them of ASL is denying them language”) and get Deaf community matters onto a political and national platform through passing inclusive legislation. In addition, Nyle was partly involved with the creation of “The ASL App,” which teaches basic ASL through video clips.
It’s clear that Nyle’s win puts the Deaf community in a positive and novel spotlight that won’t be going out anytime soon. His supporters are confident that he will continue his mission to advocate for support, visibility and acceptance of the Deaf community.
