Mother of deaf daughter purchases $4,000 worth of Mattel dolls with cochlear implants for children with similar issues

NEW YORK — A mom in Westchester County is going the extra mile for her daughter, who was born with severe hearing loss.

CBS2’s Astrid Martinez shows us how a special gift allowed her daughter to feel seen and celebrate her uniqueness.

Many parents revel in the moment when their child talks for the first time.

“Our audiologist in New York City told us she was a hearing child and she would be great and go enjoy your baby,” Dana Savitsky said.

But shortly after Lila Savitsky’s first birthday, her mother realized her daughter’s communication was not progressing. She followed her mother’s intuition and took Lila to a new doctor.

“She did a neurological hearing test that should have taken 20 minutes and they took an hour and a half with her, and when they came out they told me that she was profoundly deaf. She was born deaf,” Dana Savitsky said.

The family hit the ground running. Lila got cochlear implants at 20 months old. So as far as Lila can remember, she has always been able to hear. She has grown so fond of her implants, she even calls them her super power that she can turn on and off.

“I don’t have to hear thunder and lightning and maybe like scary stuff, a scary movie, or when some big scary sound happens. I’m like, nope, not happening,” Lila Savitsky said.

But she did start to question why others didn’t have her ears.

Read on at https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/mother-of-deaf-daughter-purchases-4000-worth-of-mattel-dolls-with-cochlear-implants-for-children-with-similar-issues.

Shoshannah Stern To Star In & Write Deaf Thriller Series ‘Disquiet’ In The Works For AMC From Jessica Rhoades & Alexandra Cunningham

This Close (show) - woman on left side with a man on right side wearing a green shirt.  both on a pink colored bed

EXCLUSIVE: Shoshannah Stern, star of Sundance Now’s This Close, the first major U.S. series to be created and written by deaf people, is back at AMC Networks.

Stern is developing Disquiet, a drama thriller series about a Certified Deaf Interpreter, for AMC.

Deadline understands that the project, which Stern is attached to star in, write and exec produce, is in the early stages of development at the network.

The series follows Cassie Edwards, a Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI), who is called back home to assist in a case involving the mysterious death of the former head of the school for the Deaf she herself attended. A former student of the school is the only witness and Cassie may be the only one who is able to understand him, leading her deeper into the case and forcing her to confront her own past.

The one-hour drama project will be exec produced by Alexandra Cunningham (Dirty John) and Jessica Rhoades (Station Eleven) through her Pacesetter Productions banner. It is produced by AMC Studios and UCP. Pacesetter executive Rachel Polan will serve as co-executive producer.

Producers have a shared commitment to representation of the deaf community in front of and behind the camera.

Stern, who recently became the first deaf doctor on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, created, wrote, executive produced and starred in the Sundance Now series, This Close, with Josh Feldman, which came out in 2018.

Read on at https://deadline.com/2022/06/shoshannah-stern-deaf-thriller-series-disquiet-amc-1235050945.