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Addiction & Ableism ("A Good Person" Discussion)

Updated: Jul 4, 2023

I write this as a hard of hearing person.


A movie called “A Good Person” (starring Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Molly Shannon, etc and directed by Zach Braff) came out March 24, 2023. As found on Google, the summary of the movie is, “Allison is a young woman with a wonderful fiance, a blossoming career, and supportive family and friends. However, her world crumbles in the blink of an eye when she survives an unimaginable tragedy, emerging from recovery with an opioid addiction and unresolved grief. In the following years, she forms an unlikely friendship with her would-be father-in-law that gives her a fighting chance to put her life back together and move forward.”


I have not seen it because it’s only in theaters and I don’t feel safe going to a movie theater because of Covid. However, I have seen clips of the movie on Tiktok.

Today I saw a clip where a character has a hearing aid, so I tried to google if the actor who plays this character actually uses a hearing aid. (I have yet to find an answer which usually, I have found, means he doesn’t.) In my journey of research, I found this interview with Zach Braff (the director of “A Good Person”) that came out a couple days before the movie.


During the interview Zach Braff and the interviewer talked about the scene where it is revealed Nathan (played by Chinaza Uche).

The first thing the interview talks about is that they wear hearing aids in both ears. To this, Zach Braff says he didn’t notice.

Next, the interviewer asks Zach where he got the idea to include that part. Zach says, “…there’s plenty of people like yourself who wear hearing aids and their life isn’t affected and people wouldn’t even know. So I thought that was cool to show that represented, that Chinaza deals with hearing deficiency, but it doesn’t affect him in any way. No one would notice unless they were told.“


A couple things:

1.) “hearing deficiency”…wtf??? NO


2.) Hearing loss and hearing aids do affect people’s lives. Saying it doesn’t is a complete lie.


Zach, I don’t know how much research you did about hearing loss and being someone who uses a hearing aid, but, either way, these are incredibly ignorant comments.

A screenshot of part of an interview Zach Braff did about “A Good Person”. The interviewer says, “It’s a great ensemble, too. There’s a moment in the movie when we find out Nathan (played Chinaza Uche) wears a hearing aid, and it’s a symbol for something I won’t give away. But what struck me is that you’re not meant to notice the hearing aid until it’s pointed out. And I actually wear hearing aids in both ears.” Zach says, “Wow, yours are amazing, I didn’t notice!” The whole screenshot is a white background with black text.

A screenshot of part of an interview Zach Braff did about “A Good Person”. The interviewer says, “When that happened in the movie, I was like, “holy ****, that’s so true. Where did you get the idea to include that?” Zach Braff says, “I don’t want to give away too much. It’s hard to talk about that aspect of the story without any spoilers, but I will say that one aspect of it that I can talk about was that there’s plenty of people like yourself who wear hearing aids and their life isn’t affected and people wouldn’t even know. So I thought that was cool to show that represented, that Chinaza deals with hearing deficiency, but it doesn’t affect him in any way. No one would notice unless they were told.” The whole screenshot is a white background with black text.

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