Title: Hearing privilege and Deaf disempowerment • Access • Public Address
Headings: Access
by Various artists

Access by Various artists
Hearing privilege and Deaf disempowerment
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Content: Hearing privilege and Deaf disempowerment • Access • Public Address
Access by Various artists
10:07 Jul 11, 2017
Hearing privilege and Deaf disempowerment
by Peter Fogarty
The New Zealand Herald recently published a story reporting that Deaf are being “elbowed out of top spots” in their own organisations. It was timely. Recent events have picked the scab off a climate of fear, anxiety and conflict in the Deaf community. The Deaf culture in our own organisations is on life support. Hearing privilege and Deaf disempowerment are at the heart of these events. But what is hearing privilege? By definition, hearing people can hear and usually can speak. This creates systematic and structural barriers for people who cannot hear or speak as hearing people do, i.e., the Deaf community. Deaf are unlike other disabled groups in that their “disability” is linguistic. Deaf can do everything except hear.