Iowa State Daily - Deaf with a capital 'D' In today’s world, being politically correct is often hard to do without offending someone. However, for the Deaf with a capital “D” community, phrases and even capitalization or noncapitalization of the word “deaf” can make a huge difference.
Jonathan Webb, American Sign Language instructor and interpreter, explained that if someone is “Deaf,” that means they are culturally Deaf.
“Deaf individuals don’t consider themselves as disabled; they see themselves as a cultural and linguistic minority,” Webb said. “They don’t see themselves as a disability group because they have a shared set of values, shared behavioral norms, shared belief system and a shared language.”
Webb explained that asking a deaf person which type of deaf they are is not considered offensive because the ASL language is very direct.
“Asking someone directly, ‘Do you consider yourself lowercase ‘d’ deaf or capital ‘D’ Deaf,’ if they don’t know the difference, if they go, ‘What do you mean?’ then more than likely they are lowercase ‘d’ deaf,” Webb said. Rachel Johnson, a 37-year-old senior in history, has considered herself culturally Deaf all her life...
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