Issue #0

Open minds open hearts

stories of the Australian Catholic deaf community

Plot

The terms 'Deaf' andl wearing Impaired' are usually defined in three ways: in terms of degree uf hearing loss; in terms of viability of communication in oral English; and in terms of identification with ‘Deaf’ or ‘hearing' worlds.
ln this book the third definition: identity, has been adopted when speaking about the contemporary situation of people. We are aware that many hearing people refer to the Deaf as the ‘Hearing impaired’. Like many other Cultural and linguistic minorities, the Deaf resist attempts to be defined by other than themselves. The Deaf generally reject the term ‘Hearing Impaired’ as a description of themselves, because it uses two words they do not see as part of their self-identity: 'hearing' andimpniredi This is par titularly true of those who have accepted their identity as Deaf. They are coinfortable with the positive connotations in the word Deaf. Throughout this hook we have used the capitalised form of ‘Deaf’ in the same way that one might use ‘Aboriginal’ or Australian to denote a cultural, social or linguistic group of people.