Is this audist?

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RandomHearie

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Someone forwarded me this email:

So beautiful and amazing . . .

Read this below before you watch the video . . .

There is an awesome dance, called the Thousand-Hand Guanyin, which
is making the rounds across the net. Considering the tight coordination required, their accomplishment is nothing short of amazing, even if they were not all deaf. Yes, you read correctly. All 21 of the dancers are complete deaf-mutes. Relying only on signals from trainers at the corners of the stage, these extraordinary dancers deliver a visual spectacle that is at once intricate and stirring. Its first major international debut was in Athens at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Paralympics. But it had long been in the repertoire of the Chinese Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe and had traveled to more than 40 countries.

Its lead dancer is 29 year old Tai Lihua, who has a BA from the Hubei Fine Arts Institute. The video was recorded in Beijing during
the Spring Festival this year.
Click to expand...

The video is Thien Thu Quan Am, and the dance definitely is amazing (it's really beautifully choreographed and it does seem like it would be really hard to do it and keep in sync with everyone else, but it doesn't look like it would be that much harder without auditory cues).

The description rubbed me the wrong way, but I'm not as informed about DHH issues as I'd like to be. I was wondering if:

1. That description is audist
2. I should say something about it to the person who forwarded it to me

What do you think? The person probably just wanted to show me the dance and would've sent it to me whatever the text of the email said, so even if it is audist, is it worth saying anything?
 
What's a complete deaf-mute? That sticks out to me as an odd thing to say.

You're also right about the description, to me it implies that they've not only managed to do a difficult thing but with the added (burden/obstacle/negative word of your choice) of being deaf too!
 
metalangel said:
What's a complete deaf-mute? That sticks out to me as an odd thing to say.

You're also right about the description, to me it implies that they've not only managed to do a difficult thing but with the added (burden/obstacle/negative word of your choice) of being deaf too!
Click to expand...

Maybe a complete deaf-mute is a deaf person with all their limbs, as opposed to an incomplete deaf-mute, who's missing one or more body parts?

I'm guessing it actually means no speech and no detectable hearing. Is that... plausible? That none of them has ANY hearing or ANY speech whatsoever? I got the impression that there are more HoH people than completely deaf people, but maybe I'm wrong, or maybe they didn't hire anybody who could hear anything...?

Thank you both for taking the time to answer.
 
RandomHearie said:
Someone forwarded me this email:



The video is Thien Thu Quan Am, and the dance definitely is amazing (it's really beautifully choreographed and it does seem like it would be really hard to do it and keep in sync with everyone else, but it doesn't look like it would be that much harder without auditory cues).

The description rubbed me the wrong way, but I'm not as informed about DHH issues as I'd like to be. I was wondering if:

1. That description is audist
2. I should say something about it to the person who forwarded it to me

What do you think? The person probably just wanted to show me the dance and would've sent it to me whatever the text of the email said, so even if it is audist, is it worth saying anything?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it's audist, but it's definitely patronizing. The writer's acting like it's a - gasp - miracle that deaf people could dance! Who woulda thought?! Not a fan of the description.
 
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