Mark Levin: Let’s eradicate the term ‘hearing impaired

i think the point is to get people away from the medical model of thinking, like in the second comment on that article. if you want to keep using the terms given by doctors&c then, yeah, that's your perogative, but you should learn to recognize the effect it has on society/other people when you use words that are associated with the idea of deafness as totally inferior.

it's a disability, no question. but if the hearing world stopped insisting that everybody follow one "normal" abled model and made everything accessible, would it still be a disability? the fault lies with the oppressors, etc. that's what i understand to be behind the desire to stop using "hearing impairment" and things like that.
 
Royale said:
At one time my sister who is academic advisor at college, told me that she had hearing impaired student as one of her clients and I replied to her like this: :squint:

I asked her if she went to my old school for the Deaf, how old she was and what her name was and it turned out that she did not go there.

In addition, she was hard of hearing so I had to tell my sister NOT to use that term hearing impaired ever again. So far, she has not used it to me. :D
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You could had told your sister you did not like that term , and not speak for every person that HOH. I have no issues with it. This is your hang up not mine.
 
I don't trust to my doctor said disagnose to "hearing impaired to me label why put to me I said why put to hearing impaired serious.they serious. I said Deaf that is why they misunderstand confusing to hearing aid. I see on reading comments
 
To use the word, "impaired" to describe human beings is just cruel.
 
actaeon said:
i think the point is to get people away from the medical model of thinking, like in the second comment on that article. if you want to keep using the terms given by doctors&c then, yeah, that's your perogative, but you should learn to recognize the effect it has on society/other people when you use words that are associated with the idea of deafness as totally inferior.

it's a disability, no question. but if the hearing world stopped insisting that everybody follow one "normal" abled model and made everything accessible, would it still be a disability? the fault lies with the oppressors, etc. that's what i understand to be behind the desire to stop using "hearing impairment" and things like that.
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EXACTLY! It is not that hard to do, really. Hearing society needs to change and meet us halfway and then all would be good.
 
ambrosia said:
The thing is, it's rather perverse. It's the downfall of politically correct terminology, the reason they're is to pacify people because they're overly sensitive about things in the first place. Nothing is ever going to satisfy, because any term chosen is going to describe not being able to hear, which overly sensitive people are going to be affronted by.

I don't have a problem with hearing impaired either. the term doesn't me...."you are impaired". No it's hearing impaired, that's just your ears, your ears are impaired not you or your whole body. It just means your ears don't hear, or have difficulty hearing, which is true is it not? "I can do anything but hear". Yes, that is correct, that is why you're hearing impaired and not some other kind of impaired, or just plain old impaired. Get over yourselves, seriously.
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I agree, what part of "hearing impaired" pertains to other body functions other than hearing? Total exaggeration, said person took the meaning out of context.
 
actaeon said:
i think the point is to get people away from the medical model of thinking, like in the second comment on that article. if you want to keep using the terms given by doctors&c then, yeah, that's your perogative, but you should learn to recognize the effect it has on society/other people when you use words that are associated with the idea of deafness as totally inferior.

it's a disability, no question. but if the hearing world stopped insisting that everybody follow one "normal" abled model and made everything accessible, would it still be a disability? the fault lies with the oppressors, etc. that's what i understand to be behind the desire to stop using "hearing impairment" and things like that.
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I think it's an illusion that just by stopping using a word that some feel have negative connotations and substituting another word will magically erase society's view of it. For one thing, hearing people, in general, do not view deaf and hoh as "inferior" people, that is a subjective view of the deaf and hoh, something they are self conscious of and projecting their feelings onto others. Society's feelings that it must suck to be deaf do not have anything to do with the words used to describe it. If we stopped using words like hearing impaired and hearing disability it's not like all of a sudden society wouldn't view deaf people as not having an hearing impairment or a disability. The fact that we have big communication problems with the rest of the world is going to exist, no matter what label you want to stick on it. This isn't a case of the chicken and the egg, society doesn't view deafness as a disability or an impairment because those words are used to describe it. They used those words to describe it because that's what they are, and calling it something different isn't going to change it.

I don't need to learn squat, people need to learn that the words aren't a personal judgement, it just a statement like of fact, like the grass is green, the sky is blue, I can't hear so boo hoo hoo. I think most people think that political correctness is silly, and just used to pacify whiners.......why would this case be any different?? That is exactly what this is.

Oh, and it is not practical or feasible to accommodate us to the degree that our hearing is never an issue. We are not children, we know the world doesn't revolve around us, and that sometimes life and the world just plain old isn't fair. But it also isn't fair to think the whole rest of the world needs to change, by comparison, a handful of people.

edited to add.....well tact, I suppose I could learn to use tact, but that seems a lot like sugar coating, which sounds a lot like being PC which just grates on my nerves and makes me have a hard time being diplomatic. But I realize I come across as being harsh.
 
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shel90 said:
To use the word, "impaired" to describe human beings is just cruel.
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If you think being called hearing impaired is cruel I hate to see how you'll be if you where called something that IS cruel . I do not see being called hearing impaired as cruel.
 
Royale said:
Mark Levin: Let

It is a very interesting article. What do you think? I think he has made great points on 'hearing impaired' term that I loathe so much.
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Problem is this is a pointless battle.

Once this term gets in use people won't like it because people will use this term to make fun of people.

It's like calling someone retarded. Retardation is a medical term to describe someone who has a mental impairment. However people who are in fact mentally retarded were offended cause people used this term in a negative light AND well someone with an impairment does not like to feel separated in another class of people so now the word is offensive.

Over the years other words like slow were used for those who are mentally retarded. Soon that became offensive for the same reason.

Now the word, 'Special' is now offensive and they are trying to come up with a new term.

Overall trying to use another word to make you feel better is only temporary cause you won't like the next word used and you'll wonder how they even started using that term.
 
caz12 said:
i was not born deaf but been deaf 30yrs put me in dreadful depression i ended up in mental hospital and being deaf piss.s me off still hard come to terms with it
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Wow, I wasn't born deaf either...but I lost my hearing about 5 years ago. I knew I was losing it...the process had been going on for about 10 years. One morning I woke up and it was all gone....literally.

I did sort of retreat from society for a while, but I've never been one to allow depression to creep in...and I have a wonderful hubby that helped me come to terms with it.

Personally, I dislike the term "hearing impaired". I prefer to just use the term deaf. I understand why people use the the term, but it does sort of imply that one is broken and useless. Which we are not. Don't understand why people seem to have a problem with using the terms 'deaf or hard of hearing'.:hmm:

I know when I introduce myself to someone I let them know I am deaf so they don't assume I am retarded because of the "deafie accent" I've kind of developed. Usually I'll try to put the person or persons at ease by saying, "Sorry, deaf as a post, I need to see your lips to have an idea what your saying. hur hur hur" Maybe not the best way to say it, but it seems to work. LOL
 
ambrosia said:
I think it's an illusion that just by stopping using a word that some feel have negative connotations and substituting another word will magically erase society's view of it. For one thing, hearing people, in general, do not view deaf and hoh as "inferior" people, that is a subjective view of the deaf and hoh, something they are self conscious of and projecting their feelings onto others. Society's feelings that it must suck to be deaf do not have anything to do with the words used to describe it. If we stopped using words like hearing impaired and hearing disability it's not like all of a sudden society wouldn't view deaf people as not having an hearing impairment or a disability. The fact that we have big communication problems with the rest of the world is going to exist, no matter what label you want to stick on it. This isn't a case of the chicken and the egg, society doesn't view deafness as a disability or an impairment because those words are used to describe it. They used those words to describe it because that's what they are, and calling it something different isn't going to change it.

I don't need to learn squat, people need to learn that the words aren't a personal judgement, it just a statement like of fact, like the grass is green, the sky is blue, I can't hear so boo hoo hoo. I think most people think that political correctness is silly, and just used to pacify whiners.......why would this case be any different?? That is exactly what this is.

Oh, and it is not practical or feasible to accommodate us to the degree that our hearing is never an issue. We are not children, we know the world doesn't revolve around us, and that sometimes life and the world just plain old isn't fair. But it also isn't fair to think the whole rest of the world needs to change, by comparison, a handful of people.

edited to add.....well tact, I suppose I could learn to use tact, but that seems a lot like sugar coating, which sounds a lot like being PC which just grates on my nerves and makes me have a hard time being diplomatic. But I realize I come across as being harsh.
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words have power - i didn't say to stop using a word would "magically erase" society's views, but in all likelihood there would be a gradual change in thinking. look at the words used for non-heterosexual people - some used to be insults but were reclaimed and repurposed into more neutral descriptors, and others, like "invert", you don't hear any more because people stopped using them when they decided that the word was inaccurate, offensive, or just plain not useful. the negative connotations of those words were dropped when those words were dropped. is there still hateful thinking? of course. but there's been a huge societal shift in the past few decades, and a lot of it is thanks to the power of words. what about "deaf and dumb"?

using different words isn't going to change the basic fact, you're right, but it has a very good chance of changing attitudes and that is important. i didn't say anything about accommodation to the point where deafness "is never an issue" - that is probably impossible. but if you start with universal design, instead of assuming that everybody is abled in the same exact way (or straight, or cisgender, etc) then automatically you have more equal access for everybody. this is what i mean by changing attitudes - if people just take these things into account from the beginning then it makes a big difference for all and everybody's quality of life is improved.

this is not just a pipe dream, btw - there are groups at universities that already operate with universal design in mind and i can tell you that it works. the effort now is getting universal design out there on a broader scale.

(if you don't know what i mean by universal design: Universal design - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
 
:wave:actaeon, I like what you wrote!

there is a problem with a "single story" <or "one way">
by taking words or concepts and re-framing them, looking at them and seeing what power they hold - that is the start of seeing differently.
 
Well, if it is not for a theme of "politically correctness", then Deaf Schools would still have its sign that reads, "[State's name] State School for the Deaf and Dumb". :roll:
 
ambrosia said:
I think it's an illusion that just by stopping using a word that some feel have negative connotations and substituting another word will magically erase society's view of it. For one thing, hearing people, in general, do not view deaf and hoh as "inferior" people, that is a subjective view of the deaf and hoh, something they are self conscious of and projecting their feelings onto others. Society's feelings that it must suck to be deaf do not have anything to do with the words used to describe it. If we stopped using words like hearing impaired and hearing disability it's not like all of a sudden society wouldn't view deaf people as not having an hearing impairment or a disability. The fact that we have big communication problems with the rest of the world is going to exist, no matter what label you want to stick on it. This isn't a case of the chicken and the egg, society doesn't view deafness as a disability or an impairment because those words are used to describe it. They used those words to describe it because that's what they are, and calling it something different isn't going to change it.

I don't need to learn squat, people need to learn that the words aren't a personal judgement, it just a statement like of fact, like the grass is green, the sky is blue, I can't hear so boo hoo hoo. I think most people think that political correctness is silly, and just used to pacify whiners.......why would this case be any different?? That is exactly what this is.

Oh, and it is not practical or feasible to accommodate us to the degree that our hearing is never an issue. We are not children, we know the world doesn't revolve around us, and that sometimes life and the world just plain old isn't fair. But it also isn't fair to think the whole rest of the world needs to change, by comparison, a handful of people.

edited to add.....well tact, I suppose I could learn to use tact, but that seems a lot like sugar coating, which sounds a lot like being PC which just grates on my nerves and makes me have a hard time being diplomatic. But I realize I come across as being harsh.
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Well, I was told by a lot of people when I informed that I was hearing-impaired, they said "OHHHH you are impaired? I am SOOO sorry" and so many other negative comments and all of that when I was a kid. U know what??? It really sucked.
 
ambrosia said:
The thing is, it's rather perverse. It's the downfall of politically correct terminology, the reason they're is to pacify people because they're overly sensitive about things in the first place. Nothing is ever going to satisfy, because any term chosen is going to describe not being able to hear, which overly sensitive people are going to be affronted by.

I don't have a problem with hearing impaired either. the term doesn't me...."you are impaired". No it's hearing impaired, that's just your ears, your ears are impaired not you or your whole body. It just means your ears don't hear, or have difficulty hearing, which is true is it not? "I can do anything but hear". Yes, that is correct, that is why you're hearing impaired and not some other kind of impaired, or just plain old impaired. Get over yourselves, seriously.
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Exactly. Just like "visually-impaired"..."mobility-impaired".....I have a hearing impairment. A medical fact. I just don't get all huffy and throw myself on the floor and throw tantrums if someone says that I'm hearing impaired.
 
shel90 said:
Well, I was told by a lot of people when I informed that I was hearing-impaired, they said "OHHHH you are impaired? I am SOOO sorry" and so many other negative comments and all of that when I was a kid. U know what??? It really sucked.
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People showed you compassion? What assholes. Still doesn't mean they think you are inferior.
 
Just answer this question, honestly. Do you actually think that hearing people assume that there are things you can't do BECAUSE the terms hearing impaired or hearing disability are using to describe us? Really?
 
Saying sorry isn't a negative comment, it means empathy. And, whether they can totally empathize is a thread in itself.

To be sure, it's not the terms used that lead hearing people to believe we can't do things, it's the physical ability. Beyond that, the perception is true not only with physical disabilities, but social customs as well. People who have gone through college want to hire other people who have gone through college, it's a natural reaction. We choose our own groups.

We can dwell on the terms or focus on improving ourselves. The choice is ours.
 
If you think it's "dumb" is just word for "mute", then you should agree with Deaf people "should shut up" and get over it with the word (dumb). It's not matter if people can use it to degrade Deaf children or not. I'm sure you would be okay with that.

Well, if they say "I'm so sorry", then I would say, "why do they apologize for? I'm not sick, I'm fine."
 
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