After making history as the first Deaf man to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the feature film, CODA, Troy Kotsur remains at the forefront of the movement to bridge the hearing and Deaf worlds. As a guest for the popular podcast “Dad Saves America”, he speaks with host John Papola on the subject of Deaf Awareness.
In the below clip from the full episode, he explains what C.O.D.A. means:
Source: YouTube
Growing up as a C.O.D.A., Ava’s Founder and CEO, Thibault Duchemin was inspired to create a tool that enables Deaf and hearing people to communicate more effectively and easily via caption technology. Real time speech-to-text transcription that can be accessed on a mobile device empowers the Deaf community and promotes inclusion.
Media and entertainment serves a vital role in raising awareness about Deaf Culture and the technology that improves accessibility for such marginalized communities. When solutions become more available and utilized in everyday life and in various settings such as a film production, Deaf and hearing people are able to learn from each other in ways that might otherwise be missed.
Source: YouTube
Before his role in CODA, Troy Kostur honed his craft on stage at the Deaf West Theatre and has starred in various films, including George Lucas’ Star Wars universe and Disney’s “The Mandalorian”. He is currently working on a documentary with Dad Saves America about his life, career and most impactful role to date as a father. As he gears up to play the coach of a football team for Disney+’s upcoming series inspired by a true story about a Deaf football team from Riverside, CA, Troy honors his commitment to bring more Deaf stories to audiences. He will executive produce the project with his CODA co-star, Marlee Matlin.
Ava is ready for its close-up and well-rehearsed to play supporting role as a communication solution throughout production and for promotional events of any kind.
