An honest question: I've always referred to this condition as being "hard of hearing" but the author implies that it's impolite to call it as such. Is there a better term that we should be using?
It's just stupid though. Some people get offended by (for example) "hearing impairment" because... it's implying they have an impairment. You do have an impairment, jeez.
It's different in groups too. I believe if you're profoundly deaf, and you sign and actively involved in the "deaf community", you're Deaf. If you're not, you're deaf. Maybe I have that backwards, but I don't really care.
There is no safe term. Over here where I live 'deaf' is politically incorrect and 'hearing impaired' is the politically correct word. 'Hard of hearing' usually implies that you're old and therefore, have low to moderate hearing loss.
When I was in USA, 'hearing impaired' was politically incorrect (responses to an post on a HLAA mailing list where I used 'hearing impairment' made that clear). The PC word is 'hard of hearing' or 'deaf'. As far as I can use, those who belong to the 'deaf culture' (i.e. use sign language as their main means of communication) prefer to call themselves 'deaf' whereas others who use hearing aids or cochlear implants decide to call themselves 'hard of hearing' or 'hearing impaired'.
I don't really care either way which term you use. It is more how to use it - i.e. you shouldn't use any of these terms to derogate or mock hard of hearing/hearing impaired/deaf people.
This is the impression I've gotten. People try to be sensitive or PC with good intentions, but there's a lot of awkwardness still. Just seeing the replies to my question show that there doesn't seem to be a consensus for specific terms, but your advice to simply 'stay classy' seems to be the way to go.
