Question by STEK: Hard of Hearing OR Hearing Impaired … WHY?
Which term do you think is more appropriate: Hard of Hearing OR Hearing Impaired. Why must one with a loss of the sense of hearing be labeled “impaired”?
I posed this question in several forums cuz I am curious of people’s perceptions. I am Hard of Hearing, am a board member of a Deaf and Hard of Hearing service agency, and Managing Editor of a Deaf/HofH group at work.
I am severely (almost profound) Hard of Hearing and wear two very powerful HAs, so I even say I am Deaf, but aidable.
I absolutely detest “Hrg Impaired” however, some HofH people do not, and they use it to describe themselves. I think it has negative connotations cuz ppl associate “impairment” with something being wrong with you, including your mental capacity and intelligence.
Best answer:
Answer by JOHN
The more appropriate term for me and many who I associate with is Hard of Hearing. I too feel that the term Hearing Impaired has negative implications to it. My mother is Deaf and for many years I’ve had to correct people when they would refer to her as deaf & dumb, no she’s not dumb, she can talk, she just has trouble hearing…that’s all!!
I think it’s the way people are raised and taught by educators and many of our Dr.s and people who claim to be doing “services” for the deaf communities, such as audiologists, speech pathologists, etc…they tend to believe more along the line of being deaf as a disability, the pathological view of what being deaf is all about. Mainly AUDIST views that have been around as long as Racism and Sexism.
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I’ve been an interpreter for about 17 years and I don’t think I’ve ever met a deaf or hard of hearing person who prefers the term “hearing impaired.” I think most hearing people think that’s the preferred or politically correct term, though.
The best explanation I heard for why the HI term is offensive was a deaf person’s quote that I saw years ago (I wish I could remember where.) It has to do with the term “hearing” applying to those of us who can hear; so to call a group “impaired” because they’re not in that “hearing” group, he says, is “like calling a black person ‘white-impaired’ or calling a woman ‘male-impaired.’”