Ms. Marlee Matlin actress

 

3/04/2021

Ms. Marlee Matlin

c/o Media Four

750 N Beverly Glen Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90077

Dear Ms. Martin,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I’m a fan of your acting. My favorite movie that you played in was Children of a Lesser God. Children of a Lesser God was a great movie about James Leeds, a teacher who comes to teach at a school for students who are deaf where he meets Sarah Norman, a janitor who works at the school and later develops a relationship.  Ms. Martin, I thought you did an excellent job portraying as Sarah Norman because I liked on how you made her have different unique traits like working hard on her disability when she has trouble fitting into society, being compassionate including helpful to students who are deaf to feel accepted into society, and trying to navigate her being in a  relationship when there are challenges.  Also what I liked about Children of a Lesser God was how it had some life lessons and symbolisms like the need to be kind along with accepting people with disabilities when they have challenges in life, how helping people who have struggles is good human trait, and how compassion is important in life. Also what I liked about the movie was how it showed what it is like for a person with a disability to date someone who doesn’t have a disability.  Some of my favorite tv shows that you played in was Reasonable Doubts and The L Word.  Reasonable Doubts was a  great police drama about ADA Tess Kaufman who is deaf and has to work with Detective Dicky Cobb due to him knowing sign language to stop crime.  In Reasonable Doubts, I liked on how you made ADA Tess Kaufman have different unique traits like being compassionate for people who are victims of crime or when people are effected in different ways when the system doesn’t work, being through about making sure that the evidence along with witness statements are efficient so the innocent person won’t go to jail, and trying her best to understand society along with the criminal justice system when she struggles with a disability or when they system stereotypes people with disabilities as bad people.  The L Word was another drama show that I liked due to the plot about women in the LA area where they try to navigate on being lesbians while understand life.  In The L Word, I thought you did an excellent job making Jodi Lerner a great character because I liked on how she tries to be compassionate for women who face oppression due to them being lesbians by society, caring about her friends when they have difficult times understand life, and working hard on her disability when other women including other people get judgmental about her being different from them. 

Besides your acting career, I truly appreciate on how you are a strong supporter of civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights causes to reduce discrimination. Also on your activism I like on how advocated to the entertainment industry about using close captions to help people who are deaf or struggle with a disability to understand speech on tv, the need to hire people with disabilities to be in movies including tv, and address the need to have movies and shows show on how people with disabilities can make a difference when they have obstacles. Ms. Matlin, I have autism with a learning disability.Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different advance subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased. When I was young, I would do teaching time with a speech therapist to help develop speech of words, sentence structure, and some vocabulary. It was a challenge, but I was able to speech when I was in kindergarten. In elementary school through high school I would have a T.A. to help me learn different subjects and be in special education to help give me some extra time to help me work on assignments.  Later, I went to Washtenaw Community College where I took some classes in intro classes in history, criminal justice, science, criminal justice, and some critical thinking courses and it was difficult because college was very advance for me. However learning support services including tutors helped me during my college years on getting accommodations like extra time on exams, use a recorder to help me with note taking, and many others. In my years on education and currently in society, I have faced getting bullied about having a disability by other adults including women, get rejected from social groups, and I have experience in facing hate.  There are days where I feel discouraged about myself and having a disability. Your commitment to be a strong supporter of civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights causes and your story about working hard on your disability of being deaf really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  Also the characters that you play in different movies and tv shows that have traits like a sense of humor,  being creative, being compassionate, and using kindness helps me work on trying to understand life, learn different methods to help improve myself when there are obstacles or when I make a mistake, and many others. 

I strongly believe that you are a very talented actress. I truly appreciate on how you use your activism to help make a difference for society and people with disabilities’ rights.  Your story about your disability is very inspiring to me. You also do an excellent job making your characters have different unique traits and working hard to understand society when they struggle with a disability. You truly inspire me to work hard on my disability, try my best to understand life while find methods to improve myself, and be a fan of your acting. I was wondering if you could please take the time to answer some of my questions, and give me advice about working hard on my disability when there are challenges. Here is a small donation to help your activism and a short story of my disability where I dedicate you for inspiring me and I hope you read it. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. Please continue to work hard to make a great difference for society,

Sincerely,

Matt Winick