Deaf webcomic creator educates readers
Lee Su-youn, a webcomic creator who rose to stardom for “I am Deaf ” on Naver, was born deaf.
Because of this, she had to learn how to lip read to understand others.
When she was six years old, after spending two years in a school for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, she was encouraged to transfer to a regular school. Teachers told her mother that Lee was smart enough to catch up on the curriculum there.
Her mother followed their advice. Lee, now 30, studied along with non-disabled classmates from kindergarten through to university.
Her family and friends have been supportive of her.
Like other Korean moms, Lee’s mother was passionate about her daughter’s education; she would put a bag of rice on her daughter’s belly to help her feel how to make sounds with her breathing and voice.
Her deafness made her vulnerable to bullying from classmates. Some were harsh to her, believing that Lee pretended to be deaf to attract attention from others. She also suffered from depression. But thanks to her family and friends who accepted her as she is, Lee was able to find her aptitude. She loved to draw comics and explore art.
Her traumatic experiences led her to write stories about herself which were reflected in the 200 episodes of her webcomic that were uploaded on Naver between August 2015 and July 2017.
“My motives were simple. I wrote stories about myself to share them with others,” she said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times. Lee requested that her photo not appear in the published interview.
In many episodes, she has explained how deaf people like her deal with situations they were facing.
Her readers were able to put themselves into the shoes of those who are deaf or hard of hearing. One episode describes how she enjoys the music of British rock group Queen and Led Zeppelin member John Bonham’s drumming.
She held a speaker in her arms to feel the rhythms. When she has a chat with her friend at night, she shines a light on her friend’s lips with a flashlight. Sometimes, she feels being deaf is a blessing because she cannot hear noises from construction sites or hear any cruel remarks that people make about her.
One of her episodes describes the way she dreams; subtitles appear in her dreams to show conversations between people.
Her webcomics deal with stereotypes regarding deaf people, illustrating the trauma suffered by those who are subject to it.
In one instance, Lee’s professor refused to give her an assignment simply because the professor thought Kim would find it difficult to work with a team.
Kim took it as discrimination. While going through these experiences and more, she decided to express her thoughts through the form of a webcomic, the simplest but one of the most powerful and educational ways to raise awareness of the experiences of deaf people.
“I can write scenarios for dramas or movies or fiction novels. But I chose to write a ‘slice of life’ webcomic because I thought it was the most effective way to help audiences pay attention to my story. If you see people in the subway, you see some read webcomics on their smartphones. Webcomics are accessible and make it easy to understand a certain subject within a short period time. Webcomics help me reach out to my readers,” she added.
Naver does not disclose data about the number of views or amount of traffic that each webcomic receives, but there is evidence that Lee’s comics are hugely popular.
She signed a contract with Naver to release her webcomic less than a year after her work was uploaded in 2014. It is rare for webcomic writers to clinch a deal with the nation’s largest internet portal within a year of uploading their first comic.
One of her episodes was rated by about 58,000 people, which is one of the highest numbers in the genre.
Her stories have certainly gained popularity.
She is the top prize winner of Seoul Metropolitan Government’s welfare award held in April.
In a press release about selection criteria, it said Kim’s work helped raise the public’s awareness of the lives of people with disabilities.
Kim said she wanted to be recognized as a webcomic writer who produced great stories but also revealed concerns that her work was praised simply because it was written by a deaf person.
She said she wanted to let people know that there are many people with disabilities in our society, a key message delivered in all the episodes of her webcomic and the reason why she started it.
In an interview with another media outlet, she said that she started drawing webcomics because she thought her stories could help people, especially young students, understand more about people with disabilities.
The writer expressed hope that it could prevent discrimination based on physical disability and reduce bullying in schools.
Lee’s stories can be read for free on Naver Webtoon even though it has been three years since the last episode was published. Some even point out her stories should be read by all for educational purposes.
She took breaks from time to time.
Even during a hiatus from writing, she said she is still eager to write stories.