I am sure that some of you have heard of these words somewhere, whether it be auto-correction, on social media, in the news, in another country that doesn’t have much knowledge about the community as we do over here in the United States and as well some countries in Europe. By now if you haven’t realized what I am referring to by looking at the headline of this article then the words I am referring to is Deaf and Dumb or even Deaf and Mute. There was someone, who is Deaf found a words replacement suggestion in Nintendo’s store saying “Deaf and Dumb” and decided to share that on Reddit which I will provide a link to that Reddit at the end but he had shared his frustration or that he was surprised about the words replacement suggestion in Nintendo for “Deaf and Dumb” instead of Deaf in a Facebook group titled ASL That!. Asking the community about what he should respond or how to react to that, to the people’s comments in response to his concern about the “Deaf and Dumb” suggestion by Nintendo on Reddit but didn’t share the link to that part on Reddit which had me looking after the one that he was talking about so to get a better understanding of what people’s responding to his concern and so that it can give me a better idea on how to respond to the commenters for the Deaf guy who talked about it in ASL That! On Facebook so to hopefully educate the commenters on why it is not the proper way to call us “Deaf and Dumb” or try to give a better picture for the commenters to understand why this Deaf guy was upset after seeing that words in Nintendo store.
I have thought of a few things on how to respond and then I realized that instead of responding to his question about how to approach or to respond to the commenters on Reddit that I would take it to a greater platform so that I could get this out there for once of all so that not only a group, Reddit or a certain place to know that it’s not something to call the Deaf community of in public too.
Deaf and Dumb
I have saw some commenters responded with some of the words such as “so”, “it’s socially accepted”, “that’s what they are” and “not such a big thing” which that is where I beg differ because it is not just so, even if it is “socially accepted” does not mean that it is acceptable which is why we are trying to educate so that it would be no longer “socially accepted”, no it’s not “that’s what they are” and it is definitely a big deal. Several decades ago, many institutions, associations, clubs, programs and even some universities (Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind which is now Gallaudet University) used to call us Deaf and Dumb because there were no research or studies that has backed us up that we are indeed intelligent just
Finally, we acted in reframing us in a more positive way and what to label us the best or to define us the best which this is where we decided that we are to be referred as “Deaf and Hard of Hearing”. Then the medical professionals started labeling us “Hearing Impairment” or “Hearing-Impaired” which is also offensive just as the “Deaf and Dumb” or “Deaf and Mute” because by labeling us “Hearing Impairment” or “Hearing Impaired” is indicating that something is broken with us and that makes us feel as if we are broken which is absolutely untrue in many ways because we aren’t. We are doing everything we can to reframe the society’s view about us by simply labeling us Deaf and Hard of Hearing which that clearly define us the best. I mean, is it the right thing to call the colored people (African, Mexican, Asian etc.) by racial slurs? Or is it the right thing to call women the “B” word? No? No, then you should view that the same way for the Deaf people too by not labeling these names because they are considered offensive or flat out disrespectful to say. Yes, we have our oppression, yes, we have gone through the unimaginable things especially through education and still to this day experiencing them which is called “Audism”. Yes, you read that right. Call us any of these then you are audist. Here’s the definition of the word Audism.
Short
Discrimination or prejudice against individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. – Merriam-Webster (link)
Long
A
We Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
That is the majority of the Deaf people’s preferred label, what words to say about us respectfully and not offensively is Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Some would prefer to just be called “Deaf” and some preferred to be called “Deaf and Hard of Hearing” but these two are the right words to refer to us as and not any of other words that you see or hear. This is one of many reasons why the Deaf community got many states passed a bill to replace all of the terms/words with only “Deaf and Hard of Hearing” and there are still many more states that have bills in process of being voted to have any of the terms to be replaced with “Deaf and Hard of Hearing” for the laws because it is the proper words to refer us as. In all, because there is nothing really wrong with any of us Deaf people except that we are unable to hear and communicate in American Sign Language which by the way is also a language that has been recognized by the United States and many other countries including Canada. Every country has their own sign languages, such as American Sign Language, British Sign Language, Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) and others just as the spoken languages in each country (English, British, French etc.). Nonetheless, we ask every one of you whether it be an individual, corporation, business, government, media, and others to please refer us Deaf and Hard of Hearing instead of calling us others such as hearing-impaired, Deaf-Mute and Deaf and Dumb which we see them as name-calling, offensive, ignorance, and insulting.
The reason for Deaf (and) Hard of Hearing is because there are two groups in the community. Deaf is for the people who cannot hear at all, profoundly and hard of hearing is for the people who can only hear a little. So, when you are talking about Deaf people in general then refer us as “Deaf and Hard of Hearing” but when it comes to talking about an individual then this is where you should label a person as a Deaf or as a Hard of Hearing and if you don’t know which one that person then asks that person which one. Just as for myself, I am Deaf and by the way, I am very proud to be so!
As for those of you who already acknowledge that we thank you truly and if you didn’t know by accident than from this point you will not have any excuse if you continue calling us these.
More Reading
Audism – Wikipedia
News Outlet Improperly Labeling Deaf – JoshiesWorld
Are They Allowing This? – Reddit
Don’t Tell Deaf People To Read Lips – JoshiesWorld
Asking how to explain that Deaf and Dumb is not acceptable in ASL That! Facebook’s group but I am not sure if it’s a public or closed group though so if you cannot see it then you will have to join to watch the vlog in ASL or read the comments.
And there are many good articles out there that can help you to get a better understanding of the Deaf community / Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I myself have
Thank you, everyone, for sparing a minute or two of your time and read this. Have a good day or night. Please feel free to leave a comment below to talk about this if you would like to! If you have a blog and write an article related to this or in response to this article then be sure to add this article (copy the URL address) to your blog’s pingback which will be
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan.
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