Deaf Utopia: A Memoir - and a Love Letter to a Way of Life

by Nyle DiMarco, Robert Siebert

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A heartfelt and inspiring memoir and celebration of Deaf culture by Nyle DiMarco, actor, producer, two-time reality show winner, and cultural icon of the international Deaf community

Before becoming the actor, producer, advocate, and model that people know today, Nyle DiMarco was half of a pair of Deaf twins born to a multi-generational Deaf family in Queens, New York. At the hospital one day after he was born, Nyle “failed” his first test—a hearing test—to the joy and excitement of his parents.

In this engrossing memoir, Nyle shares stories, both heartbreaking and humorous, of what it means to navigate a world built for hearing people. From growing up in a rough-and-tumble childhood in Queens with his big and loving Italian-American family to where he is now, Nyle has always been driven to explore beyond the boundaries given him. A college math major and athlete at Gallaudet—the famed university for the Deaf in Washington, DC—Nyle was drawn as a young man to acting, and dove headfirst into the reality show competitions America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars—ultimately winning both competitions.

Deaf Utopia is more than a memoir, it is a cultural anthem—a proud and defiant song of Deaf culture and a love letter to American Sign Language, Nyle’s primary language. Through his stories and those of his Deaf brothers, parents, and grandparents, Nyle opens many windows into the Deaf experience.

Deaf Utopia is intimate, suspenseful, hilarious, eye-opening, and smart—both a memoir and a celebration of what makes Deaf culture unique and beautiful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063062368
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/04/2023
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	160,148
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Advocate, producer, actor, and model Nyle DiMarco has been breaking down barriers and winning over audiences since 2014, when he was a fan favorite on cycle 22 of America’s Next Top Model and became the second male winner and first Deaf contestant on the series. The following year, partnered with Peta Murgatroyd, he took home the coveted mirror ball trophy on season 22 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Nyle’s acting credits include roles on Difficult People, Switched at Birth, This Close, and Station 19 and he served as executive producer on the Netflix docuseries Deaf U. He is passionate in his work as founder of The Nyle DiMarco Foundation, which focuses on bilingual education and aims to improve access to accurate information about early language acquisition. He lives in Washington, DC.

A frequent writing collaborator of Nyle’s, Robert Siebert is also the author of the story “Chocolate Chip,” published in Deaf Lit Extravaganza, which was edited by celebrated DeafBlind poet John Lee Clark. Robert holds degrees from Gallaudet University and resides in Maryland with his fiancée and their two boys.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

1 How I Failed My First Test the Day After I Was Born 1

2 Queens, New York 9

3 Fire in the Belly 22

4 Roadside Arts and Crafts 45

5 Wanderings 55

6 Them Hearing, Me Deaf 65

7 Storms 88

8 The Kitchen Light 103

9 Fighting Back 119

10 Guatemala 133

11 Explorations 145

12 Use Your Voice 163

13 I'm Sold 175

14 War Heroes 186

15 Tears of Joy 203

16 Fluid 224

17 Boombox 237

18 Silence, Deaf History, and the Last Dance 256

19 Embracing Me 274

20 Home Movies 287

Resources: Furthering Your Deaf Education 309

Acknowledgments 315

Editorial Reviews

A cheerful but sobering account of [DiMarco’s] life so far, peppered throughout with a broad-strokes history of Deaf persecution and advancement. . . . Genuinely informative, and rather ambitious as far as celebrity memoirs go. He does not see himself not as some kind of unicorn, that rare Deaf celebrity to gain a foothold in the hearing world, but as part of an intergenerational struggle.” — New York Times

“Nyle DiMarco welcomes you to his world. . . . his book covers the harmonious and heartbreaking parts of his childhood. . . . The book also serves as an education for readers who may not know key facts about Deaf people or moments in Deaf history. . . .Something tells us we'll all be living in DiMarco's 'Deaf Utopia' soon enough.” — USA Today

“Activist and model DiMarco debuts with an immensely inspiring story of the experiences, people, and culture that made him ‘the proud Deaf man I am today.’ Expertly weaving in seminal moments from Deaf history. . . . This exuberant account isn’t to be missed.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Unique and vividly written, the memoir effectively serves a dual purpose: to showcase the author’s life and exuberant pride as a Deaf individual and to bring increased awareness to the Deaf community by spotlighting ‘the beauty, power, [and] magic of ASL.’ An honest, heartfelt, and thoroughly memorable portrayal of growing up Deaf.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“An eye-opening and engaging tale of what it is like to grow up in the Deaf community. . . . DiMarco’s memories, told with a true gift of storytelling and filled with his big personality, are funny and enlightening for any reader.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“DiMarco’s pride in his Deaf community radiates from every page of Deaf Utopia. . . . [This book] is generous to its hearing readers . . . and it takes the unique step of conveying ASL conversations that employ the grammar and rhythms of ASL as far as possible. . . . This joyful memoir celebrates DiMarco’s ambition and adaptability, his journey to understand his queerness, and the vibrant Deaf community that made him who he is.” — Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 01/24/2022

Activist and model DiMarco debuts with an immensely inspiring story of the experiences, people, and culture that made him “the proud Deaf man I am today.” Expertly weaving in seminal moments from Deaf history, DiMarco paints a vibrant picture of his 1990s childhood growing up in a multigenerational Deaf home; recounts his journey to “coming out my way”; and passionately details his work to improve Deaf representation in media. Along the way, he immerses readers in the rich dialogue of American sign language, rendering conversations in ASL gloss (a typed approximation of ASL using all caps) as a way to effectively “recapture some of lost magic” of translating his native language to the page. As DiMarco explains, while he was “born into a world in which... sign languages generally recognized... languages,” that wasn’t always so—his mother and grandmother, for instance, were forbidden from using ASL at their schools (until it was legitimized in the 1960s, he writes, signing was widely dismissed as “pantomime”). After modeling in college, DiMarco went on to compete in and win America’s Next Top Model, an achievement he used later to prove “just how damn cool it is to be Deaf” by securing a deal with Netflix that would feature Deaf talent both on screen and behind the camera. This exuberant account isn’t to be missed. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Nyle DiMarco welcomes you to his world. . . . his book covers the harmonious and heartbreaking parts of his childhood. . . . The book also serves as an education for readers who may not know key facts about Deaf people or moments in Deaf history. . . .Something tells us we'll all be living in DiMarco's 'Deaf Utopia' soon enough.

USA Today

DiMarco’s pride in his Deaf community radiates from every page of Deaf Utopia. . . . [This book] is generous to its hearing readers . . . and it takes the unique step of conveying ASL conversations that employ the grammar and rhythms of ASL as far as possible. . . . This joyful memoir celebrates DiMarco’s ambition and adaptability, his journey to understand his queerness, and the vibrant Deaf community that made him who he is.

Booklist

A cheerful but sobering account of [DiMarco’s] life so far, peppered throughout with a broad-strokes history of Deaf persecution and advancement. . . . Genuinely informative, and rather ambitious as far as celebrity memoirs go. He does not see himself not as some kind of unicorn, that rare Deaf celebrity to gain a foothold in the hearing world, but as part of an intergenerational struggle.

New York Times

DiMarco’s pride in his Deaf community radiates from every page of Deaf Utopia. . . . [This book] is generous to its hearing readers . . . and it takes the unique step of conveying ASL conversations that employ the grammar and rhythms of ASL as far as possible. . . . This joyful memoir celebrates DiMarco’s ambition and adaptability, his journey to understand his queerness, and the vibrant Deaf community that made him who he is.

Booklist

★ 03/11/2022

DiMarco's memoir is an eye-opening and engaging tale of what it is like to grow up in the Deaf community along with the difficult and rewarding aspects of navigating the world when everyone expects you to be able to hear everything. DiMarco's journey begins with his childhood as half of a pair of Deaf twin brothers in a multigenerational fully Deaf family in Queens, NY. During his teen years, he attempts to understand himself and his sexuality. After modeling in college, he finally breaks into the Hollywood scene, fighting to be accepted by his peers while competing on America's Top Model and Dancing with the Stars. DiMarco's book is an interesting depiction of being Deaf in the entertainment industry. VERDICT DiMarco's memories, told with a true gift of storytelling and filled with his big personality, are funny and enlightening for any reader.—Leah Fitzgerald

Library Journal

★ 2022-02-01
The life and legacy of a Deaf model and activist.

In his debut book, DiMarco begins with the complicated births of he and his twin brother, Nico, in 1989. “Nico and I had joined our older brother as the fourth generation to be born Deaf in our family,” writes the author. DiMarco recalls his rascally childhood in Queens, a time characterized by immense curiosity, independence, and innocent wanderlust. He regularly left his hearing aids at home, preferring to use American Sign Language while attending a school for the Deaf where some of the teachers were against using it. As a young man, DiMarco enjoyed playing Little League baseball while slowly developing a keen defensiveness against the taunting and mean-spiritedness he experienced in public school. In his teens, an acute attraction toward other boys blossomed, and in college, his natural talent for modeling led to success on America’s Next Top Model and Dancing With the Stars—although he admits that the former became an unexpectedly isolating emotional journey. Once DiMarco’s star began to rise and he signed a reality show deal with Netflix, he became more comfortable coming out as sexually fluid. Interwoven throughout the narrative are pivotal moments in Deaf history and culture that have shaped the author as an individual. He discusses how the creation of the book proved challenging during the conversion process from ASL into written English, noting how he used a method called “ASL gloss.” While DiMarco admits that the written translation naturally lacks much of the innate charm of the ASL experience, his continued advocacy remains critical to diminishing the awareness gap between hearing and Deaf communities. Unique and vividly written, the memoir effectively serves a dual purpose: to showcase the author’s life and exuberant pride as a Deaf individual and to bring increased awareness to the Deaf community by spotlighting “the beauty, power, [and] magic of ASL.”

An honest, heartfelt, and thoroughly memorable portrayal of growing up Deaf.

Kirkus Reviews