tng is so frickin good, man

The bearded actor who plays Riva, Howie Seago, is deaf, and pitched the idea of doing an episode about a deaf mediator to the producers of ST: TNG.

[ID: A scene from Star Trek involving a conversation between Riva and Geordi La Forge. Riva communicates through three people behind him who speak for him.

Geordi: It is my pleasure to meet you, sir.

Riva: What is that you're wearing?

Geordi: A visor—it interprets the electromagnetic spectrum and then carries the readings to my brain.

Riva: And without it, can you see?

Geordi: Without it, I'm as blind as a stump.

Riva: Then your visor serves the same function as my chorus, which interprets my thoughts and translates them into sound.

Geordi: Yes.

Riva: And you don't resent it?

Geordi: The visor or being blind?

Riva: Either.

Geordi: Well, no, since they're both a part of me and I really like who I am there's no reason for me to resent either one.

Riva: What is your position on the ship?

Geordi: I'm the chief engineer, sir.

Riva: It's a blessing to understand that we are special, each in his own way.

Geordi: Yes, that's the way I feel exactly.

End ID]

(I don't typically make image descriptions, but I thought it would be horribly ironic if a blind person couldn't interact with a post about a blind character just because the screen reader couldn't process a series of screencaps. So yeah, thanks for your patience!)