What about Deaf people?

 

There’s another layer of consideration when referring to a person who is deaf.

The usual protocol among deaf people is:

• Uppercase ‘Deaf’ means the person uses Auslan (Australian Sign language) and self-identify as being a part of the Deaf community.
• Lower case ‘deaf’ refers to the adjective, and all people that are deaf.
• ‘Hard of hearing’ (rather than ‘hearing impaired’ which implies a negative loss of function) is the preferred term for people who do not identify with the Deaf community.

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