Deaf Utopia: A Memoir—And a Love Letter to a Way of Life

Written by Nyle DiMarco and Robert Siebert

Narrated by Dan Bittner

A heartfelt and inspiring memoir and celebration of Deaf culture by Nyle DiMarco, actor, producer, two-time reality show winner, and cultural icon of the international Deaf community

Before becoming the actor, producer, advocate, and model that people know today, Nyle DiMarco was half of a pair of Deaf twins born to a multi-generational Deaf family in Queens, New York. At the hospital one day after he was born, Nyle “failed” his first test—a hearing test—to the joy and excitement of his parents.

In this engrossing memoir, Nyle shares stories, both heartbreaking and humorous, of what it means to navigate a world built for hearing people. From growing up in a rough-and-tumble childhood in Queens with his big and loving Italian-American family to where he is now, Nyle has always been driven to explore beyond the boundaries given him. A college math major and athlete at Gallaudet—the famed university for the Deaf in Washington, DC—Nyle was drawn as a young man to acting, and dove headfirst into the reality show competitions America’s Next Top Model and Dancing with the Stars—ultimately winning both competitions.

Deaf Utopia is more than a memoir, it is a cultural anthem—a proud and defiant song of Deaf culture and a love letter to American Sign Language, Nyle’s primary language. Through his stories and those of his Deaf brothers, parents, and grandparents, Nyle opens many windows into the Deaf experience.

Deaf Utopia is intimate, suspenseful, hilarious, eye-opening, and smart—both a memoir and a celebration of what makes Deaf culture unique and beautiful.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063062399

Nyle DiMarco

Advocate, producer, actor, and model Nyle DiMarco has been breaking down barriers and winning over audiences since 2014, when he was a fan favorite on cycle 22 of America’s Next Top Model and became the second male winner and first Deaf contestant on the series. The following year, partnered with Peta Murgatroyd, he took home the coveted mirror ball trophy on season 22 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Nyle’s acting credits include roles on Difficult People, Switched at Birth, This Close, and Station 19 and he served as executive producer on the Netflix docuseries Deaf U. He is passionate in his work as founder of The Nyle DiMarco Foundation, which focuses on bilingual education and aims to improve access to accurate information about early language acquisition. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews for Deaf Utopia

[valerieandbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Deaf Utopia is so much more than what I consider a typical celebrity memoir (which I really don't read). Nyle DiMarco was born in a multi-generational Deaf family -- one set of grandparents are both Deaf, his mother and father are both Deaf, and both of his brothers are Deaf along with other Deaf relatives. He shot to stardom when he won in one season of America's Top Model, and then won a season of Dancing With the Stars. Neither shows are the type I follow. But I did take the time to watch DTWS and vote for Nyle :-). The Deaf world is small, and I have a friend whose Deaf daughter was a classmate of Nyle's at Gallaudet University where he was a math major. Nyle's memoir covers his experiences as a Deaf child, a Deaf young adult, and as a Deaf man who eventually figures out his sexuality. He also relates what kind of barriers his parents and grandparents faced in earlier days -- barriers that many of us Deaf people still experience to this day. When people ask me what it‘s like being Deaf, I try to say it‘s much more than just degrees of hearing loss (or "Deaf gain", a term that Nyle also shares in his memoir), but being Deaf is also being part of Deaf culture & dealing with audism by the non-deaf (such as language deprivation due to the emphasis of oral methods; he also touches on the damage done by Alexander Graham Bell and others of his time in attempts to take away sign language within Deaf education) .Yet, Nyle is upbeat and positive throughout his memoir. When he discusses his sexuality path, he also covers how it it/was perceived within Deaf culture.Another thing I really liked about this memoir is how he explains and translates ASL to text in the book. ASL is not a word-for-word signed substitute for spoken English (although there are some versions of sign language that attempts to follow English word order -- Nyle covers that as well). Nyle also reminds us that Deaf people are not a monolith. So readers unfamiliar with Deaf culture will learn that his story is his story alone, but that us Deaf people can have some, or a lot of things, in common.Highly recommend.

[Tanya Fitcher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautifully written look into the Deaf culture and world.

[danjlaf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting and In many ways similar experiences for me, It should give hearing an insight into how it is for both Deaf and deaf and that we are Intelligent, vibrant, knowledgeable people who simply communicate different yet have same wants, needs, wishes as any

[Megan Miller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book showed up as a suggestion on scribds main page and I immediately clicked on it and glad I did. Dimarco shares his life and a bit on Deaf history and it's easy to see the love he has for his community.

[Anita T. · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Nyle DiMarco is racist as hell. Check out Mary Hemming White's book, "Sounds like Home".