Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin is not only the youngest recipient of the Academy Award® for Best Actress; she is the first and only recipient who happens to be deaf. She is also the recipient of Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe Award® for Best Actress in a Drama and has received four nominations for an Emmy® Award. She is also a producer, author and advocate for those who are differently abled. She has not only inspired those within the differently abled community with her perseverance and achievement in overcoming barriers, but has inspired millions of abled bodied individuals to consider that the only barriers that we face are not in our limbs, eyes or ears but in our minds. As she outlined in her autobiography “I’ll Scream Later,” she realized at a very young age that she wanted to tell the world that it was okay to be deaf. Even at ten years old, she was interested in advocacy work when she wrote a letter to then President Gerald Ford that she wanted all television to be closed-captioned. Therefore, it was a proud moment for her when her testimony on Capitol Hill in the 1990’s led to the implementation of closed captioning for all broadcast television. She continues to speak out for equality.