The Deaf Population Is Growing. Acceptance Should, Too

Opinion|Don’t Fear a Deafer Planet

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/10/opinion/deaf-population-integration.html

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Guest Essay

Don’t Fear a Deafer Planet
Oct. 10, 2021

Credit…Alana Paterson for The New York Times

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By Sara Novic

Ms. Novic is an instructor of deaf studies at Stockton University in New Jersey and the author of two novels, including the forthcoming “True Biz,” set in a school for the deaf. She lives in Philadelphia.

In Deaf culture, we have a rich storytelling tradition, including a stable of myths passed down through generations of deaf people. One of these stories is about a planet called “Eyeth,” a utopic world where deaf people communicate freely and live without stigma. Rather than the audio-centric societies that dominate Earth, Eyeth centers the eye. In some tellings everyone on the planet is deaf; in others, the society is designed around visual communication and signed language, and everyone signs regardless of hearing status.

Back here on Earth, most deaf and hard-of-hearing people know how very far away the [...]