Is anyone with a hearing impairment considered "deaf"?

I think it all boils down to the 'trends of language' in certain eras. I remember being referred to as 'partially deaf' until the trend was to add 'ologist' to everything to make it sound more professional. What was once a social worker, is now a sociologist. 'Hearing impaired/impairment' had a more medical term ring to it, perhaps? We could always start another trend and rewrite the dictionaries once again. Yeah!!!
 
I was told by an audiologist at age 7 that I was Deaf when I had a moderate hearing loss. I was raised in the hearing world and was mainstreamed all along. I never learned sign language due to being mainstreamed. I am now totally 100% Deaf as of 2 years ago and obviously still being termed Deaf. According to Hear Again's chart, I am also considered to be legally blind without glasses. I am finding that I have to change my prescription for my glasses every 6 months as my eyesight gets worse.
 
jillio said:
You're welcome. I see terminology like that to simply be another attempt at the sighted and hearing communities to tell the individual how they should be defined. After all, they are the ones that came up with the terms "hearing impaired" and "visually impaired" in an attempt to make themselves appear more sensitive. The fact is, it showed how unbelievably insensitive they can be.
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I am in agreement to that. It is like political correctness, no how matter politically correct you can be, there is always someone discriminated against.
 
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