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Hi Deafies (and everybody). It's time to talk about privilege.
I've been thinking a lot about Adichie's talk "The Danger of a Single Story" and how it applies to the Deaf community.
If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch. 1/ https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
I've been thinking a lot about Adichie's talk "The Danger of a Single Story" and how it applies to the Deaf community.
If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch. 1/ https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
The Deaf community is racist because it exists within a systemically racist system. It's not a fun thing to hear because, well, nobody likes to think they're racist. If you're white, you don't have to be actively hateful to be unwittingl racist or to benefit from racism. 2/
We have the added hurdle of dealing with ableism, which is real and shitty. It can sometimes be hard to think about yourself as having "privilege" when the world is also actively oppressing you. I struggled with this idea when I was younger, too. How could *this* be privilege?
But of course, that's not what privilege means. It only means that our whiteness (or other privileges) *doesn't add* to the discrimination we face.
Because for some people, their race, or other facets of their identity, *do* add to the discrimination. Ableism AND much more. 4/
Because for some people, their race, or other facets of their identity, *do* add to the discrimination. Ableism AND much more. 4/
Our Deafness/disability and marginalized place in society does not cancel out our other privileges--race, class, gender, education, etc. It does not absolve us from having to do the work of dismantling racism or other bigoted hierarchies intertwined therein. 5/
A big part of this, from my perspective, especially for those of us who do have the opportunity to educate the hearing world about the Deaf community (including myself here, though I'd consider my own voice a small one) is being not being complicit in our own tokenization
We can't be satisfied with the hearing world engaging with one or two white deaf people and saying they're inclusive. We need to stand up for those intersectionally marginalized. More importantly, we need to amplify them when they speak for themselves. 7/
I'm thinking in particular about BIPOC Deaf voices, but there are so many other ways to be intersectionally marginalized. I'm going to add a few accounts and links to follow below. I hope people will add themselves, or others in the thread. 8/
A few people to follow: @HabenGirma @ASLHipster @DeafWomenColor1 @DeafShowRunner @BlackDisability @chellamanart @chrisunkim @MaleniChaitoo
And highly recommend David A. Player's "Deaf White Privilege" blog and following David on insta https://whitedeafprivilege.wordpress.com/
And highly recommend David A. Player's "Deaf White Privilege" blog and following David on insta https://whitedeafprivilege.wordpress.com/
