LETTER: We should try to avoid ignorance

Dear Editor,

I was very disturbed in reading a letter to the editor in the April 6 paper titled, “The deaf are handicapped.” I am a junior studying communicative disorders. One of the focused areas concerning the major is deaf education. I felt the article published in the March 28 Statesman was very informative and correct about the deaf culture. Andersen stated in her letter that “claiming the deaf people are ‘not handicapped’ is simply an excuse to ignore their problem.”

I believe the educator quoted in the original article stating that “deaf people can do anything but hear … their emotions, feelings, skills, learning abilities – all are the same” is more correct. Referring to the deaf as “hearing impaired” or “handicapped” is like walking up to a black person and telling them they are “white impaired.”

Misconceptions of the deaf culture come from beliefs such as these. If the dictionary does define “handicap” as “a physical or mental disability,” or “a hindrance,” would that then mean we are all handicapped? There are definitely some activities I have difficulty participating in (i.e. drawing, football, basketball, dating, etc). I also have “difficulty communicating with people that can hear” and I am not deaf! Each of us comes from a different culture or social background, and it is our job to not be ignorant of those differences.

Janelle Anderson