In Fortnite: Battle Royale has enchanted the deaf Twitch streamer EwokTV. For the Pro-Am tournament, some professionals learned sign language specifically to communicate with the young streamer.
Who is it about? Soleil “Ewok” Wheeler is a deaf, 13-year-old Fortnite streamer. She was relatively unknown on Twitch, but last March her stream was hosted by professional TimTheTatMan, and since then she has gained over 130,000 followers.
Therefore, she was invited to this year’s Pro-Am tournament during the Fortnite Summer Block Party 2019.
Duos consisting of a Fortnite streamer and a celebrity compete for money, which they donate to a good cause. The event was filled with Twitch stars, along with 50 athletes, musicians, or actors in the spotlight.
13-year-old streamer in the spotlight
This is what happened at the Pro-Am event: Ewok played in the tournament alongside Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kurt Benkert. Since Ewok is deaf and communication is crucial in the game to have a chance, the football player learned a bit of sign language specifically.
This allowed him to effectively communicate via FaceTime with his teammate, and together they earned $20,000 in the tournament, which they donated to the youth program of the “National Association of the Deaf,” an organization that advocates for the rights of deaf individuals in the United States.
This is how Ewok enchanted everyone at the Summer Block Party: At the block party before the tournament, there were numerous famous professionals, including Ninja, NICKMERCS, and Dr. Lupo. However, Ewok, with her wonderful success story, clearly was the star of the day.
Because of her, other professionals, including Dr. Lupo, Nick Eh 30, and Aydan, as well as casters Zeke and Sundown, learned some sign language. Additionally, she finally met her big supporter TimTheTatMan in real life and was able to thank him personally for kickstarting her streaming career.
Furthermore, Epic provided her with a sign language interpreter so she could communicate with guests who had not learned sign language.
This deeply touched Ewok, and the young streamer was full of gratitude towards Epic and the wonderful community that was present at the event:
„I am so grateful for everything Epic has done for me and the deaf community. People learned sign language just to communicate with me and took me seriously as a deaf person and a gamer. I have loved Fortnite for a long time, but this entire experience has made me love it even more.”
