El Deafo

Cece continues to feel alienated from her environment when she attends a birthday party. In this setting, she alternates between feeling included and alienated because of her disability. Though some moments are enjoyable, Cece resents a popular girl who calls her “poor thing” (92). This kind of pity makes Cece feel different and abnormal. Cece’s difference is also highlighted when the lights go out and she can no longer lip read. She is disconnected in these moments when other girls can bond over gossip and shared secrets.

Despite this alienation, Cece finds agency by calling herself El Deafo: “You wanna call me Deafo, go ahead! Yeah, that’s right! Just call me…El Deafo” (84). She takes a derogatory name from a television show and claims it as her superhero name, effectively taking the power away from ableist people who mock children like her. This name speaks to her plot arc, as she finds power in her disability, rather than shame.

Cece’s experience with deafness, and its complications, are also clear when she takes sign language class with her mother. Cece’s first experiences in the class are colored by the failure of her hearing aid batteries. Bell depicts this experience as fading text and eventually with empty speech bubbles as the batteries die and Cece lives in silence. These empty speech bubbles are symbolic of Cece’s disconnection from the world and reflect her point of view.

As a result of this experience and her struggle to fit in, Cece sees sign language not as a tool, but as a marker of her difference. She resents her parents and classmates for embracing the language because they don’t have the same fear of alienation that she does. She feels that it is safe for them to sign because they can hear. When she signs, it only makes her disability more obvious.