From what I’ve learnt about the Deaf (born) and deaf (ended up deaf) communities, it differs vastly from person to person but also from communities. Deaf people don’t view it as a disability since they were differently abled from the beginning just like a person born with paralysis or born blind won’t view it as a disability since they’ve always been that way. For the deaf community, it’s different. They were once hearing and lost the ability to hear which is the textbook definition of “disability”. I’m in the uk so it might be different country to country but being born differently abled is not the same as becoming disabled. If you were once functioning in one way and could not do so anymore, that’s you losing that function. This is especially difficult when it’s one of the 5 main senses. We do have other senses that compensate when we lose one sense (we have over 30 senses) but it is debilitating for a while until you adapt. This also goes for conditions like selective mutism, the blind community, the paralysed community and every other differently abled and disabled group. I myself am disabled and categorise myself as such because the change occurred after I was 10 so I had gotten used to living a certain way and then had to adapt to a new way of living. I think a lot of disabled people view it the same way as me but ofc as with everything, some people won’t. The reason why it’s important that the uke know that he’s disabled and it’s not a bad word or a slight against him is that he can’t get better and adapt to his new life until he acknowledges that he NEEDS to adapt and change. It is a disability but “disability” doesn’t necessarily mean “incapable of functioning”. It’s a huge stigma in many countries including the country I was born in in Africa and also in Asian countries like Japan. They still view it as a vulnerability and something to be ashamed of since it means “imposing” or “burdening” others by asking for support and assistance now and then. The western world is a lot more tolerant of all types of disabilities but the whole world isn’t really good on accessibility although places like America and the uk do try their best.
It’s nice to see how America views it though!
Idk if any1 will see this and to preface i am no way a professional or like super duper knowledgable in the deaf community and i myself am not Deaf or Hard of Hearing. I am a hearing person. I just want to share my experience. And also i am speaking from more of an american stand point cuz i know depending on culture and society it can be diff.
I see alot of ppl referring to Deaf people as disabled. From what i learned from my Deaf professor while learning ASL, the Deaf community doesn’t like being referred to as disabled because they don’t see themselves disabled. By that they mean that they are able to do everything an abled bodied person can in terms of basic needs and regular day to day. Now i know they cant hear music but they can feel vibrations and get the feel of it through interpretation. My Deaf professor was telling me that they see themselves as people who “speak” a different language and that being called disabled means that they need to be fixed but in fact the deaf community don’t feel like they do need to be “fixed” in any way. They just have their own culture and language. They have their own unique way to express emotions and there are very interesting and cool videos you can watch of Deaf poets. The way they sign poetry but also still have that feeling and emotion through sign is cool! Also the reason as to why i capitalize D in Deaf is because they are their own community and culture as well so its like when you capitalize America or Japan when you write about them (( in formal setting cuz typing casually i just be lazy to capitalize and punctuate smtimes lol)). Now i know that everyone has diff situations and in this manga the character loses his hearing suddenly and recently and i cant say much about him due to not being super duper familiar to Japans culture and societys views on the Deaf community. I just wanted to let ppl know abt what i learned from a person from the Deaf community. Also if you’re interested in learning more its really easy to search about it on ur own. (⌒▽⌒)