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!
That is what Deafhood is all about.
But try not to believe what Dr. Jane K. Fernandes claimed about the students not liking her because she’s not deaf enough. It is totally false and preposterous of Madan to portray the protesters like that.
R-
Comment by The One and Only Ridor — August 21, 2006 @ 3:13 pm
Deafies VS heafies sounds interesting. I like this article…
The term “Hearing impaired” also died down over here … i rem when I just join SAD, i was taught by sign language instructors to use HI instead of deaf..and now it’s deaf instead of HI. I hope the 2 grps can come together and work together instead of being fragmented.
Comment by Rabbit Lover — September 6, 2006 @ 1:23 am