COULMN: Deafness is not equal to stupidity, handicap
I am writing in response to a letter to the editor printed on April 6 entitled, “The deaf are handicapped.” I am a deaf student myself and must disagree as well as question the need to label the deaf as “disadvantaged” or as having a “hindrance.” I am a profoundly deaf student, here after 5 years of a full-ride football scholarship, the current College of Education student of the month and Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education department’s student of the year, a graduate student with a current straight “A” average in my program, a father of two children, a husband and an ecclesiastical leader.
In high school I won the state track championship and was the district wrestling champion, as well as being an all-state and all-conference football player. And no, none of these were “special” contests for the “handicapped” deaf. I competed against hearing high school athletes. I wonder how many other people at this university can list the same number of accomplishments. I am in no way handicapped, nor am I at a physical or mental disadvantage as the aforementioned article seemed to allude.
If you would like to label the deaf as “handicapped” due to their “disadvantaged” status, then we had better be sure that we have the same designation for those with glasses or those who are overweight or those who are cranky and unable to get along well with others, all of whom would be at a disadvantage in one situation or another. As for my “difficulty” in “communicating with the majority of the hearing world,” I can think of no example when I have been unable to communicate with a hearing individual unless they spoke no English, as I can read and write. Yes, the deaf can read and write and drive and think and perform and succeed and do. If a Spanish-speaking person visits America, unable to speak English, is he or she handicapped? Of course not. People are not handicapped because they use a different language.
American Sign Language may not be the predominant language used in America, but it is mine, and it does not make me “handicapped” because you do not understand it. The one and only thing that puts me at any kind of a disadvantage in this world is the labels and stereotypes that some feel are so important to attribute to me. I can do anything I want to if I am allowed. Some hearing folks seem unwilling to allow me to try. I do not know the author of the letter, which means she may want to interact with the deaf before she starts stereotyping us. What a shame and a missed opportunity for her. The letter ends stating, “We should work toward a better understanding of the deaf culture, and a world which is more accepting and accommodating of the [deaf].” I think the author, as well as any other member of this community who shares her opinion, ought to take their own advice and get to know a deaf person. We have much to offer and are not handicapped.
Curt Radford is a master’s student majoring in communicative disorders and deaf education at USU.