"Can 'Deaf' be used as a noun (as in the Deaf') or should it be used only as an adjective?"
My first reaction to this chapter was 'WOW! how cool... there is such thing as a library service to the Deaf community,' my next thought was, 'wait a minute, the last chapter just told me to write Deaf.. as in the Deaf Community with a capital "D." Any how I really liked this chapter, and it was much shorter than the last which is a plus.
One concept mentioned is that "a number of individuals don't want to be designated as "deaf artist" or "deaf writer." Rather they are "writers who happen to be deaf." I really like this philosophy, I know in special education we are taught to always put the person before the disability, for example a child with a disability not a disabled child.
It was a little odd for me at first too to be called "hearing" and the title "hearings" sounds even more different but as the book mentions "one gets used to it."
I found the story by Richard Nowell to be very interesting. It was very polite for the man to let him know his mistake and explain why some people might take his work choices the wrong way. This is very important in all aspects of life I believe, because most of the time people don't mean to offend others they just don't know. Mr. Nowell puts this concept perfectly when he says "there is a right way and a wrong way to teach dumb hearing people like me this kind of lesson*"
I attached a link to a funny story I read having to do with ASL and football fans who simply didn't know what they were signaling.
Oregon Ducks and Sign Language Story- New York Times
Cate, I also found it strange that the book calls us “hearing”. I wasn’t use to that at first. I have now grown to understand it more and have sort of become use to it after reading the book. After reading the story Richard Nowell shared, I agree with him that it may be better to say “deaf persons” than “the deaf” (pg. 247). I think a lot of it is just one’s opinion but I would rather be correct than to accidently offend someone. I liked that you pointed out Nowell’s quote that, “there is a right way and a wrong way to teach dumb hearing people like me this kind of lesson”. I couldn’t agree more.
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