https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/the-simpsons-deaf-voice-actor-sign-language-episode-1235227673/

Sunday's “The Sound of Bleeding Gums" episode "centers on Lisa Simpson, who discovers that her favorite musician and mentor, the late saxophonist Bleeding Gums Murphy, had a son who was born deaf," per Variety. "She meets the young man, Monk, who wants to get a cochlear implant — but Lisa gets a little too over-exuberant in trying to help him." Loni Steele Sosthand, who joined The Simpsons in 2020, wrote the episode inspired by her family and her brother, who is deaf. Sunday's episode managed to pull off American Sign Language despite The Simpsons characters only having four fingers.

Why does The Simpsons' first episode featuring a deaf voice actor feel like pandering? (https://www.salon.com/2022/04/11/the-simpsons-deaf-episode-sound-of-bleeding-gums/)

With CODA's Best Picture Oscar victory and John Autry II's role as The Simpsons' first deaf performer, it seems like deaf people are having a moment. But as Alison Stine points out, Autrey's role, like a lot of deaf roles, is a minor one. "It's not, perhaps in part because it was not directed or written by a deaf or Hard of Hearing creator, as The Simpsons episode was not. Though deaf-adjacent is a good start, stories will never make strides until they're actually created by the people whose community is being mined for content," says Stine. "Hollywood loves to reward itself for the bare minimum, and deafness may be the first disability to be rising in onscreen representation in part because deafness is often invisible." ALSO: John Autry II discusses his experience working on The Simpsons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLzW2fSj8bw).