Terms of Endeafment
A call for unity among all people who have hearing loss, and less emphasis on ‘labels’, name-calling and snobbery.
As the poster writes, Deaf is deaf.
Deafness is a low-incident disability (only 1 in 1000 people is deaf). We are a very small minority and since our disability is invisible, the general public knows about us only when we use signs (or, perhaps, carry a sign proclaiming deafness). Since we are small, we need to be united. Every member of deaf community has to work together. This unity was visible in 1988 when, according to Jack Gannon, the world heard Gallaudet.
Since then, we have been fragmenting. This fragmentation will hurt us, it is already hurting us. We blame hearing people for not being tolerant, but we have become intolerant ourselves. The vicious language dished out by bloggers showed how much of a depressing rift there is among us.
Deaf is deaf. We can discuss stratification for fun or for intellectual exercise, but when it comes to dealing with real life situations, let us be ONE!
