My newest pet peeve…..
People at my school (deaf people included) tend to refer to any general statement made about children as “deaf.” The word, deaf, is also used to replace the word, children or people, in sentences.
For example:
“Deaf are always late.”
“Deaf push each other.”
“Deaf are messy.”
“Deaf need to go to school.”
“Deaf don’t do their homework.”
I would think that this would lead to the thinking among deaf children that they’re even more different than hearing children than they really are and that these actions are only unique to deaf children.
To me, it’s creating stereotypes about deaf people in these deaf children’s minds when these behaviors are common regardless of how old we are, our ethnicity, our gender, if we’re deaf or hearing, etc.
This is actually a fairly common collective term in the US, too. A minority community gets to choose our own label. I remember an older uncle complaining because the “Negroes keep changing what they wanted to be called” (eye roll)
If the Kenyan Deaf have chosen the term, I’d really counsel letting it go.
David
I understand where you’re coming from and I would be fine with it if it was used in a positive/neutral way. However, it’s used in a negative way with a negative tone.
Aha! Thanks for clarifying.
David