"deaf and dumb"

Even if the schools don't teach a lot about her, I can tell you that my parents did. I imagine I'm not the only one.

BTW, could somebody please answer my question about what the correct, concise terminology is, for someone who does not speak? All I'm seeing here is what you're NOT supposed to say, not what you should...
 
Rose Immortal said:
BTW, could somebody please answer my question about what the correct, concise terminology is, for someone who does not speak? All I'm seeing here is what you're NOT supposed to say, not what you should...
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Really, there is no such label for someone who "does not speak." Hearing people is too focused on the ability of speaking that they don't realise that Deaf people do communicate through sign language and that it is equally as wonderful as hearing people speaking. We don't really think of labels like that. It's as if you called someone who cannot speak English (but speak German) "mute" because he doesnt speak English? It just sounds illogical and we don't need to find a term for the German speaker, do we?
 
kuifje75 said:
Really, there is no such label for someone who "does not speak." Hearing people is too focused on the ability of speaking that they don't realise that Deaf people do communicate through sign language and that it is equally as wonderful as hearing people speaking. We don't really think of labels like that. It's as if you called someone who cannot speak English (but speak German) "mute" because he doesnt speak English? It just sounds illogical and we don't need to find a term for the German speaker, do we?
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You make a good point, and it made me think of this: in Spanish, we have the word "hispanoparlante" for one whose main language is Spanish; perhaps that's why I'm used to having a quick, universally-accepted term for communication mode of preference. In French a similar thing exists: "anglophone" or "francophone" for English-speakers and French-speakers respectively. So perhaps the best term would be something referring to one's chosen way of communication, the same way as these terms do?
 
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