Written by: Jubin Maharjan - 2022026, Grade XII
Posted on: 14 July, 2021
Audism is defined as the discrimination done towards deaf people and their community. The term audism was first coined by Tom L. Humphries in 1975. The deaf community has been suffering from audism for centuries. Audism is mainly caused due to the lack of awareness among people about the deaf community or the lack of awareness about the actions that cause discomfort towards the deaf community.
Audism is a sensitive issue and everyone needs to be aware of the effects that cause on the deaf community. Some examples of audism can be; asking a deaf person to read our lips, refusing a deaf person to explain what everyone is discussing about, refusing to call an interpreter when it is required, approaching deafness as a tragedy, having the mentality that deaf people can’t do things, etc. We might be doing these things towards a deaf person without being aware of it and it might make them uncomfortable. So to avoid this kind of situation, being aware of these things should be necessary.
In our society, deaf people are still discriminated against and are excluded. People have a certain mentality that since the deaf cannot hear they are not able to do things that a normal can do. This kind of mentality is wrong and there have been many deaf people that have risen to success such as Nyle DiMarco, Linda Bove, etc. and there are even famous deaf musicians such as Ozzy Osbourne, Stephen Stills, etc.
We as a community can stop audism by giving equal employment opportunities to deaf people, we can teach people basic sign languages, we need to understand deafness as an identity, etc.
