His chiseled features, inviting smile and striking blue eyes may have something to do with it.
“[William Morrow] just thought it looked really good.
Serendipitous events like this have followed DiMarco his whole life.
William Morrow
He grew up fourth generation deaf in his large Italian American family.
Yes, you read that correctly, fourth generation.
“I was born to a family that was entirely deaf, just like I was.
Adam Taylor/ABC
So I chose to name my bookDeaf Utopiabecause I’ve always described my childhood as perfect.”
For hearing readers, it’s a helpful guide to understanding a world they most likely know little about.
It’s a cultural thing.
That’s exactly what our normal is.”
I was not going to let that happen."
In his memoir he also describes a harrowing experience from his time onAmerica’s Next Top Model.
The situation left DiMarco in tears, and was shown in the episode out of context.
“Producers should just ask people what they need,” he says.
“AtANTM, I was never asked what I needed, it was just other people’s assumptions.
And there were a lot of mistakes made in the process that were easily preventable.”
(Reps forANTMdid not respond to a request for comment.)
And there’s still more work to be done.
“Oftentimes misrepresentation happens because they don’t have deaf people involved in the project behind the camera.”
“Netflix needs to call!”
But nowCODAhas removed all doubt, there’s no excuse anymore."
He’s pitching a script that explores the historical 1988 Deaf President Now protest at Gallaudet.
“In high school I was closeted, I didn’t want to watch,” DiMarco says.
“I thought this is going to unlock something for me.
But I ended up on the show talk about a full circle moment.
I’m very, very excited about it.
It’s now reimagined with a more diverse and more all-encompassing inclusive cast.”
He says it’s about time all these stories are told.
“It’s very telling that we have more deaf stories coming, which is thrilling.
