Misconceptions About Deaf People

If you assume every Deaf person can lip read flawlessly, didn't realize Deaf people can drive, or thought you were being helpful by exaggerating your mouth movements when speaking to a Deaf person, this episode of Misconceptions is for you.
@TreshelleEdmond , @HaroldFoxxTV @melmira & Dickie Hearts (who also penned this script) share Misconceptions About Deaf People, from the seemingly small to the seriously significant.
Directed by Alexandria Wailes
Website: www.mentalfloss.com
Twitter: / mental_floss
Facebook: / mentalflossmagazine

[@TheButterflyfoot]

OK! This is a great video! And of course, since I’m blind👩‍🦯 I want to do one for blind people too! You wouldn’t believe how many people ask me about when I learn sign language, LOL. Great information, thank you so much for sharing.

[@jturner2577]

What type of Blindness do you have? Is it one of the 80% that can be prevented/cured. If not have you researched any experimental treatments?

[@dwanashawn]

@@jturner2577 Did you even watch the video? I went blind for 3 years until I was able to have surgery to restore my sight. So many people would suggest glasses or tell me to try theirs as my sight was fading. At first I would nicely explain that it would not help, but some people would still insist that I tried their glasses. Eventually, I would blow them off with yeah, no, not gonna work, bye.

[@jturner2577]

@@dwanashawn I did watch most of it. And I'm glad you can see again.

[@angrynoodletwentyfive6463]

@@dwanashawn As a person who wears glasses I am very confused as to why they thought handing you their glasses would help... even if you need glasses and glasses would restore your sight... you would still need your own perscription and it is almost impossible that you both just randomly have the same one...

[@jturner2577]

@@angrynoodletwentyfive6463 That confused me as well.

[@JoaoPessoa86]

That wheelchair airport thing usually happens by misinterpreting the assistance codes involved, especially if the attendants responsible for wheelchair assistance are only told someone needs assistance without specifying.

[@johnstevenson9956]

I wondered why in the world anyone would think a deaf person needed a wheelchair. That would certainly explain it.

[@lynn858]

One would -think- that letting the attendants know the type of assistance requested would be a higher priority than “disabled”. It takes little or no extra effort to say: mobility assistance, deaf, blind, navigational (ensuring a client can navigate the airport effectively due to neurological differences). That info gets filled in when you book your ticket. Why doesn’t it get communicated?

[@HesderOleh]

@@lynn858 for the same reason airlines get special meals wrong, or lose your luggage. The groundstaff at most airports work for the airport, not the airline so it is another layer of telephone for things to get lost in.

[@Taric25]

@@lynn858 I have seizures and explicitly specified that I can walk but need assistance with stairs and have a service animal, yet each and every time, the porter greeted me with a wheelchair. One couldn't even help me, since she was allergic to dogs. (One of her coworkers happily escorted me, and he was one of the nicest men I have ever met in my life.) You would think this would easily have been communicated ahead of time, since I specified it both when I made my reservation as well when submitted my DOT forms. I've even called ahead, but it's made little difference. Not that it matters to this story in particular but I do also sign and have some rudimentary knowledge of braille, mostly because I have deaf and blind and deaf-blind friends.

[@lynn858]

@@Taric25 Yeah... I don't understand why they ask for information and then can't be arsed to use it.

[@Auntieemily94]

I teach deaf culture as part of my job and I think I can throw out my entire hour presentation and just have them watch this. All the thanks to the team that put this together.

[@miriamrosemary9110]

+

[@KdetJim]

This was a great video. I’m a hearing person, and while I didn’t know that some of these misconceptions existed, being aware of what the deaf community faces is educational, enlightening, and helps me understand an underrepresented community.

[@miriamrosemary9110]

I felt the same way watching this video

[@allonzehe9135]

These were great hosts. I bet there's a lot of fun facts about ASL and other sign languages, and we could learn them in another video with these same hosts. Maybe in a future video?

[@miriamrosemary9110]

+

[@MentalFloss]

Oo I like that idea! Or maybe even something about languages, more broadly, with a section on signed languages...

[@ahmieyeung5812]

Oh! I would love to see a verbally narrated script signed in American Sign Language split screen with British sign language!

[@morley364]

The background of Plains Indian Sign Language as a way for multiple indigenous groups to communicate might be an interesting addition!

[@kiamatyful]

I have a deaf coworker. (Late in life deafness due to an illness) Often people will have full on conversations with her then later they'll call to her while her back is turned and get upset when she doesn't answer. I tell them that she's deaf and they ALWAYS say "But she speaks so clearly, she doesn't sound deaf." When she learned she would lose her hearing she learned ASL and has become an advocate for the community. She just recently graduated from nursing school. She said the hardest part of school was the subtitles on her course work which didn't make sense half the time. Some of the words were completely censored which made learning about anatomy and the reproductive system rather confusing.

[@miriamrosemary9110]

+

[@callabeth258]

The first two I was like “what?! Why would anyone think that?” The others make a little more sense as to why people would think they’re true even though they’re not.

[@MentalFloss]

That's interesting, I (the hearing producer of this vid) was actually was somewhat misinformed on the first item (i.e. overestimating the prevalence/efficacy of lip reading), while I found some of the other ones more bewildering. It's always tricky to gauge what's a "conception" at all, one of the tricky parts of this series, but in this case, at least, the writer's direct experience proved a valuable (and sometimes surprising) entry point.

[@route2070]

Fun Fact, part of the origins of official signals in sports originated in part due to the need of deaf athletes needing a visual cue of the officials calls. Due to the size of venues and cheering, the visual display of calls makes it easier for participants, coaches, and fans to follow the action.

[@jarla90]

My husband is hard of hearing but will be legally deaf within a few years, our kids use three languages.. Swedish (since we are Swedish), English (I'm part american) and Swedish sign language (with a few ASL signs like 'Awesome' and 'ILY/I Love You' = 🤟🏻 ) 🥰🤩

[@MsSwitchblade13]

I've spoken to Deaf and Blind people on the phone for work purposes using a relay service. When I first got a call from a relay service it was intimidating because I didn't know it existed and I was put on the spot. After that one time though, it's just like any other call to me. I've taken relay calls for colleagues too afraid of them, but then again this fear also exists when an interpreter is required. The lack of public education and awareness of these services and facts is unacceptable.

[@hernanhernandez6567]

I've had one relay call come in once in 5 years on my old job in retail. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and was glad to help them out

[@joewilson3393]

I taught my kid basic hand signs. Before he could speak, it made it WAY easier to figure out why he was screaming at me. It also makes it easier to figure out if he's full. He used the hand sign for "more" well into his speaking years, lol.

[@sarahcoleman5269]

I love watching the facial expressions and seeing some obviously interpretable gestures. XD All the hosts have fantastic personalities and I hope they get invited to do more.

[@invisibleninja86]

It doesn’t currently, but that would be cool! I wonder how it would work with their platform.

[@darkdistroi]

@@invisibleninja86 I'm sure there's some kind of camera integration that could be used!

[@ahmieyeung5812]

Check and see if your local community college offers sign language. It is much better learned in person with real-time feedback so you don't build off of faulty understanding especially with it being a three-dimensional language you can make some really odd errors if you learn only from 2D sources.

[@sarahcoleman5269]

@@ahmieyeung5812 Thank you for the suggestion. It may be a bit difficult as I work 35 hours in an office and I'm not sure I'd be allowed to take classes with my student loans... 😢 But I know my local community colleges have some classes that are just for people who want to know and are comparitively cheaper than those that are directed towards a degree.

[@madcow741]

I love the misconceptions series, and that was far and away my favorite episode. Thank you all for this. You are amazing. No to go sign up for ASL classes.

[@MrRraaccee]

I was born deaf. I believe many of the views expressed in this video perpetuate what we can all agree is a problem-deaf people do have less education and, it follows, less income than those who don't struggle. I'm proud to be deaf but I'm also proud of who I am. It's a hearing person's world that we have to find our way in and secluding ourselves by not "fixing" the deafness-if it can be fixed, is a big part of the problem. Everyone has struggles in life. Being deaf is just another one of those struggles. By being honest with myself-identifying the struggle for what it is-a hearing impairment I have been able to succeed where many others fail.

[@jturner2577]

A cure for Deafness is not a bad thing. It's a legitimate genetic disorder/impairment. Those who say it's not are being delusional, I'm sorry but they are. It's one thing to own your condition, it's another to outside of possibly the individual with said condition see it as a good thing.

[@jeffbrownstain]

@@jturner2577 This is my general thought on this. I get appreciating a culture and not wanting it wiped out, but this is quite literally a failure of one of our most important machines within our bodies. Celebrate that you can thrive in a world you werent made for, but hoping to fix our malfunctioning parts shouldn't be a bad thing that's demonized.

[@jturner2577]

@@jeffbrownstain Exactly and equalling a cure for Deafness as a "cure" for autism and as changing someone's sexuality is downright insulting. Autism means your brain is wired differently. Deafness is the lack of one of the basic human senses. I'm on the Autism spectrum as is my cousin and even remotely treating curing deafness as the same as "curing" Autism infuriates me.

[@toddklopfer5258]

@@jturner2577 I think I am missing something here and if you could educate me I would appreciate it. If there was a way to make it so you could hear, you want that? If there was a way to rewire your brain so that you were not autistic, you don't want that? As a hearing person I certainly understand wanting to hear. If rewiring my brain made life easier for me, I am not so sure. When I was younger if there had been a "straight" pill I would have taken it in a heart beat. Now that I am much older I am content with being gay and just want people to take "acceptance" pills to make my life easier.

[@angrynoodletwentyfive6463]

I never understood why people who are deaf do not want to become more able to hear if/when they can... deafness is a disability that inherently makes your life less livable in of itself, and unlike with a disability like autism which is a facet of everything an autistic person is, A deaf person who has their hearing returned would be the same person they were when deaf just with a higher quality of life and a better ability to communicate, because A deaf person is just an otherwise normal person who cannot hear. maybe the surgery is dangerous or painful and that is why... and maybe there is also a level of the fact that you cannot fathom how much better something will make your life until you have experienced it, but IDK I am not deaf.

[@Zeyev]

Great video. But I'm a hearing person who never learned ASL. Alas. One of the comments reminded me of a "funny" incident decades ago. A professional translator translated the title of an English publication into Spanish. "Advice for a Deaf Driver" became "Consejo para un conductor ciego." It was fortunate that the boss spoke Spanish and knew that "ciego" was "blind" and "sordo" was "deaf." It was corrected before the public saw it. One thing you didn't mention was the use of telephones and similar devices. We used to say "Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Speech Impaired" or some such language could use this special number. I got them to say "TTY Users." to simplify the language and to say what we really meant. The USA and Canada now have 711 relay service nationwide so it has - I hope - become easier for people to find out how to contact nearly any office either directly or through a relay service. In that way, we can consider that the deaf community was a leader in texting. How about that!

[@delusionnnnn]

When I worked at a regional ISP (something which no longer exists, honestly), we had some blind customers and deaf customers. The deaf customers were some of the most challenging to help because of the person-in-the-middle issue. Sometimes I'd have to stop the TTY-to-speech translation, and they'd go into their explanation that I was supposed to talk directly to the communicator not the translator, etc. And that's when I'd have to politely, kindly, but very assertively explain that I needed more precise information from THEM, not the communicator. Because when people are giving us usernames, URLs, filenames, pathnames and (although they're not supposed to, it happened) passwords, it's very important that I know if that letter was a small o, a capital O, a zero, etc, and not just have the person read it as if it were text. It was always due to that extra person that made it challenging, not because of the customer themselves. The fact that this was a free service was very cool, and those minor bumps in the road were just part and parcel of the particular issues we'd be helping them with, I was very glad the state had that service available. The blind were much easier, generally because I knew my OS without a mouse so I didn't have to say silly things like "click the button that says ... uh, wait", I could just tell them to "hit tab three times, type this, hit CTRL-TAB once, tab five more times, type this, tab, space, tab space, hit enter" etc. if I needed them to go through a very common, say, DNS setting change or something. The worst customers to help? Linux desktop users - mostly early adopters who didn't know what they were doing or why they should be running a Linux desktop other than to be contrary - this was the late 90's. They'd call up and tell me the problem was on our end. Which was curious because nobody else was calling. But I digress.

[@GoingBrogue]

I lived in St Augustine for many years (home of the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind) and got to interact with the deaf community on a regular basis in social as well as professional settings. Some of the funniest people I have ever gone drinking with were deaf! Thank you SO MUCH for making this video!

[@metragiany]

I've been watching mental floss for years and this was hands down my favorite video. It was funny and engaging and I really learned something - so thanks!!

[@bnthern]

thank you so much for this - as a nurse i saw toooooooooooooo many times that a handicapped person was branded as a lesser person and deaf was often the worse!

[@MentalFloss]

Thanks, and thank YOU for being a nurse-not an easy job, but an important one, for sure!

[@pghmack]

What a great topic to cover, and in an incredible way. Very powerful messages

[@ShadowSun922]

Really learned a lot from this video, some of which I already knew and others I did not. Appreciate this video. As a person who is blind I get some of these regarding sign language and speaking loudly in addition to a couple others like the wheelchair at airports. Very useful information.

[@jrivers0005]

I love this. As a person with a disability, I would love to see a world where more people care enough to understand.

[@BACzero]

I grew up with a deaf uncle. Back then, they mostly taught SEE (Signing Exact English), so that's what I learned. I really wish I could've learned ASL because it's the norm, now. The two are similar enough that I can pick up the basic gist of an ASL conversation, but I can't really translate it well. When speaking to someone who signs ASL, I often have to revert to hand spelling, because I don't know the proper sign for certain things. As an adult, I had a friend who was majoring in social work at our local university. He got connected in with the deaf community at the university, and invited me to a cookout with the group. It was the most interesting BBQ I've ever attended. I watched the quietest game of volleyball I've ever seen, and it was at that BBQ that I first learned how well deaf people can express sarcasm. They had me rolling with laughter! The most fun I've ever had with a big group of people I didn't even know. This was a fun video and a great topic. :)

[@dianet3994]

Love love love this video. These hosts were fun and relatable. Thank you for including the voices of POC as well. ❤️❤️💓💓

[@vindelanda]

I took ASL in university and it was one of my favourite classes of my entire degree! My professor was Deaf and was such an awesome teacher. It was an incredible, immersive language learning experience and we learned a lot in just a couple years. Unfortunately I haven’t practiced ASL much since graduation, but this video is inspiring me to pick it up again! It is a beautiful language.

[@romulusnr]

The sign language thing was actually a big deal in the past, there were places where the deaf people were considered (medically) morons because the people running facilities for the deaf didn't recognize their unique sign language as "real" sign language and they were institutionalized as a result.

[@anttibjorklund1869]

Thank you for this.

[@tamaraf69]

This is the best Misconceptions ever! Thank you for spotlighting these

[@mizzie18]

I loved this video! Thank you for including hard of hearing people in the umbrella. It gets forgotten a lot, like we are a subculture of hearing people. But we deal with a lot (but not all) of the same misconceptions. At least in my experience, yours may vary.

[@AliceRamsay]

Thanks for making this awesome video! 👏👏👏👏🎉🎉🎉

[@saustindavis]

All of the hosts are so demonstrative while the sign, it's so much fun to watch! My wife is hard of hearing and has had more than 10 surgeries to prevent more hearing loss and ear infections. I saw a couple arguing in ASL once and when they didn't want to pay attention they closed their eyes, it was fascinating to see!

[@angiewagner9232]

This is amazing!! Please make more of these on different topics!

[@katherinekelly5380]

A few years ago it was all the rage to teach babies simplified signs and it was found that preverbal children experienced much less frustration as a result Which makes a lot of sense. And there was no downside - language acquisition was the same for both signing and non-signing babies

[@CryptoTonight9393]

This is a great video. I had no idea people thought this way about deaf people. The voice casting for this video was SPOT ON!

[@gabecoolwater4497]

Very cool informative video. Great vibe from all the hosts! People spend so much time on the internet, consuming and spreading destructive ideologies... when they could instead use it to enrich themselves and make this world a better place for everyone.

[@christinegengaro8931]

Thanks for this video! It’s bananas how many of these were like DUH, but I don’t doubt these are things deaf people have to deal with on the regular. They do ASL classes at the school where I work; makes me want to sign up and at least learn enough to break the ice. 💗

[@HeliosKou]

I have a deaf friend and he has zero issue with texting with his hearing friends. I've had deaf patients and they either wrote or had an interpreter. So I decided to take a ASL course and I'm glad I did. I'm not very good at signing but I can atleast finger spell and alot of the deaf people I have encountered appreciated that I could do that atleast Learning the alphabet and how to sign finger spell, has helped me out so much but like anything else, ya gotta practice to keep up

[@markman278]

One the of the coolest languages is a sign language that formed in front of linguists with deaf children from around Nicaragua. The kids created it over a relatively short amount of time. For more information: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Sign_Language

[@miriamrosemary9110]

Fascinating read, thanks!

[@vsm6847]

Been casually learning ASL with a Zoom group for about a year, and I know enough to have a pretty functional conversation from just one hour per week of casually learning vocab. ASL is really fun, intuitive, expressive and interesting. (And I imagine the other sign languages are too.)

[@ozzyluvngirl]

I absolutely love this video

[@Andrea-rw9tf]

Awesome, enjoyable, and insightful!

[@AndrewPonti]

This was awesome! I also just have to say that I LOVE that the ASL for (I think) "motocross" is the "VROOM VROOM" hand motion!

[@moonsent9526]

I liked all of these presenters and would watch many more videos featuring any/all of them.

[@ImprobableGarage]

Three of them have youtube channels (click on their names in the video description). So you can get a bunch more content from them. :)

[@ollipoppolli]

Wow! This is the best video I have seen on this channel.

[@MTBer09]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I have been involved with the Deaf community for going on 15 years and have worked as an interpreter for 6 years. I have many Deaf friends falling into all the categories discussed in this video. I am sick of having to explain to my fellow hearing people how confused and wrong they are about Deaf individuals. From now on I'm going to make EVERYONE I meet watch this video. And thank you for not using any hearing people and showing ALL of what is being signed.

[@miriamrosemary9110]

❤

[@paulinathomas9865]

Great video! Thank you for educating me about not saying hearing impaired, because I never knew it was offensive. I loved the wheelchair misconception, it had me laughing out loud!

[@JuandaMayfield]

This was a really good episode!

[@cathipalmer8217]

The interpretation is on point!

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

Thank you

[@CleliaSarai]

This was an amazing video!!!

[@scilla359]

Wow, this video was so interesting and I found myself going “duh! Why did you think that?!” about some of my own misconceptions. So enjoyable! Great hosts!

[@RobBulmahn]

For some reason, my computer was having issues, so when I started playing this video, there was no audio. I was having a hard time figuring out if that was intentional or not, lol.

[@bobsmith3790]

Thank you very much. I learned some new things. I’ll never say ‘hearing impaired’ again.

[@Shadowydreamer]

Hearing processing issues here, This was a great vid! The wheelchair thing at the airports is it's a visual cue of your disability, so it gets you through the line-ups faster and the extra help you need.

[@shredlessmarmalade]

When you watch a video to see how similar ASL is to BSL and then you’re like “lol only like 2 signs are even remotely similar”

[@mikelberke8239]

Awesome!!!

[@wolfcat87]

This was so helpful, thank you! My first question was can deaf people drive? I'm happy that was answered. It would be great to see a video on challenges specific to the deaf community while traveling.

[@IncendiaHL]

Awesome video!

[@southernoregoncatmom6519]

Very informative and very engaging people.

[@bekkaanneee]

i live and work near Gallaudet University, a uni specifically for deaf and hoh students, and i often find myself working with deaf/hoh customers, (or walking into a signing starbucks!) my asl is not great, and i'm trying to learn more so i can provide a better experience for these customers. i loved this video and i love that y'all at mf got a great cast of hosts for this ep!

[@cptkirkpyro5656]

i loved this video

[@FlyKiwi]

Could someone explain why sometimes you point to your arm while finger spelling in ASL? Is it a way of emphasising the word? In NZSL we finger spell with both hands, it took me ages to learn one handed!

[@Centfla60]

Bravo

[@Quokkat7]

I have a question!! Is there a lingua franca in sign language? The equivalent of me in mexico learning english to speak to my swedish friends?

[@CrystalWilliamsoncoach]

Kudos to both the hosts and the voice actors! The only misconception I knew wasn't true was the driving one.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

I must admit that whilst I was initially astonished that deaf people are given wheelchairs and Braille leaflets, etc, being physically disabled myself it dawned on me that yeah, this sort of thing is going to happen, but still... 🤦🏻‍♀️ (You should see how people treat someone who needs crutches just to move - because wheelchairs terrify me! I'm a control freak lol. They're often very surprised to find out that I'm neither deaf nor stupid 🤷🏻‍♀️) As for sign language for little ones, it's an excellent idea. My eldest had glue ear until he was 2. He couldn't hear the majority of the range where speech is "normal". Fortunately, back then, I had a much bigger vocal range than most mums (tenor to descant) so I could speak very low (it was easier to be clear doing that than if I spoke as high as he would need) and he could pick up a fair bit of what I said. He actually learned a lot more spoken language than anyone expected. Because he was either going to grow out of it or have grommets put in when he turned 2, there was no need for us to learn BSL, although I had already learned how to spell in it years ago and had a few basic words, because I worked with a couple of deaf colleagues, one in a public library, the other at a university library. Spelling words out gave us the chance to have a good giggle behind the librarian's back! Anyway, he and I invented our own sign language, just a very basic one so he could communicate his needs and wants, and I could ask him what he wanted. It was the best thing for us, because we didn't spend time learning "officially" but spent a lot more time working together. 28 years on and we still have an incredibly strong bond, and I think that had a part to play. (Not that I don't have a strong bond with my others! I learned with him that time together would develop the bond, and it worked a treat, especially with my other son who has Asperger's.) He did grow out of the glue ear, quite literally with a pop! One day, a couple of days before his appointment to plan the operation, he suddenly put his hands on his ears and shouted "NOISY!" Both ears cleared up at the same moment! And no, I have no idea how or why it happened like that. There's a sign language for children used in the UK - possibly elsewhere, tbh I don't know. It's called Makaton and is simpler than BSL and is used by lots of different children. Some are deaf, but many have other difficulties like speech problems. My step-grandson whom I met when he was about 4 (it was a while back!) didn't speak much - he has a genetic condition which in his case grows benign tumours, but he has one next to his brain. He's not stupid, he just takes longer to grasp _some_ things and back then, his speech was very impaired. Using Makaton, we could communicate, and my daughter worked damned hard to get him into a "normal" school, where he eventually thrived. He's in high school now. He hasn't used Makaton in years because his speech improved rapidly when she got the chance to work with him, but without that to start with, he'd have been far behind his peers. I have been campaigning for BSL to be taught in schools, especially in primary school when kids are like sponges and they soak up new languages much more easily than even as a teenager. I've been trying to learn it myself, and I'm picking up more words rather than spelling things out, and when I've been chatting with some supermarket assistants who I've sometimes taken a bit too long to realize that they're deaf (some lip-readers are incredible! They're mostly my age and so would have gone to "deaf school" like my old colleagues did, where they were forced to learn it 😠), I do like to sign "thank you!" at the end. It's not much, but I hope that they understand that I'm doing it out of respect for them, and _not_ being patronising!

[@miriamrosemary9110]

Thanks for sharing

[@AndyJP]

I listened to the whole thing

[@howHumam]

This is how we should learn. People who know, discussing the topic from different angles.

[@JeanDowdle]

agreed, though maybe just a little less snarky sometimes. That may be a generational communication style, though.

[@angela_42]

@@JeanDowdle signing is very expressive. And a bit of snark does make sense I think, when people are debunking misconceptions that they are tired of encountering

[@oakland2425]

Ok about driving. I don't think it's discriminatory to ban deaf people from driving. I feel like there are moments hearing is important in driving.

[@dinahmyte3749]

Almost everyone is blasting music or the radio nowadays... 🤷🏽‍♀️ Or the AC. What's the range of hearing required? What if they meet that range but some horns or whatever are outside of it? What's the rate of being tested? The same or less frequently than vision?

[@oakland2425]

@@dinahmyte3749 I don't think everyone is blasting music to the point they can't hear. At least no one I know.

[@miriamrosemary9110]

My guess is that hearing is not needed that often while driving. You need it to know you're being honked at, it helps for figuring out if there's an ambulance around a little sooner... Is there anything else? Driving is mostly based on sight (and physical ability to control the vehicle). I'd say that deafness doesn't normally get too much in the way (I don't actually know - feel free to educate me otherwise). Driving tired or drunk is way worse, and people do that all the time (not that I condone it).

[@dinahmyte3749]

@@oakland2425 Then you must not live in a city. I can HEAR the lyrics inside closed cars.

[@oakland2425]

@@dinahmyte3749 I live in a big city

[@fatstar111]

About the lip reading....I went to a sign language class with a deaf teacher. He could understand 100% of what I said, I was amazed, it wasn't even a disability for him. Had to repeat it once when I made a reference completely out of context but he still got it. It was freaky.

[@MissLilyputt]

I would love to see an episode where the language of disability and words used to describe it have changed and why it’s such a tricky thing to get right. Language is a crazy thing. Words that are used today to define someone will undoubtedly become thought of as rude, demoralizing, intolerant, demeaning, etc. and then the word gets changed. Meanwhile people born at different times may prefer to be called different things even with the same issues. It can even cause rifts within a community because, for example, some people want to refer to themselves (as an example) little people, dwarfs, short statured or vertically challenged. I’ve heard different people from that community have different feelings about each and every one of those words. How do they come together when some people are offended by the words that other members within the same community use to call themselves? I have spina bifida and over the years I’ve gone through the seeing words like gimpy, disabled, crippled, handicapped, handi-capable, physically challenged, physically delayed, etc into and out of fashion to describe me. Honestly I really don’t care which word is used as long as at the end the other person understands the meaning behind it. I never cared too much for words like handi-capable or differently abled. They seem more like pandering words rather than saying anything useful about my disability. I also didn’t care much to have other people being offended on my behalf. If I want to say I’m gimpy then that’s my prerogative.

[@matthewjay660]

Deafness is a culture and a community. There is ASL for hearing people and ASL for people who have never heard in their lives. These are dialects. Get it! 🤜🏻🤛🏻

[@pandorasbox4238]

I knew these, fortunately. I usually keep a paper and pen in my purse in case I run into a deaf person. I have had a lot of deaf acquaintances. Our maid is partially deaf. She can hear things only on the lower ranges. I always make sure cc is on when I show her a video, just in case the tones are out of her range. One of my ex bosses had 2 hearing impaired children. His son was almost completely deaf, but could hear some sounds. His daughter had a bit more hearing and could speak some. His son could not. His daughter wanted the implant when it was available, but his son was content with just using sign language. He was supportive of their choices - it's their life after all - and both kids went to a deaf/mute school so the environment was the best for them to learn. They were happy kids, real sweet, and loved their school. I thought it was all very cool.

[@h.e.l623]

I am GOBSMACKED that the first misconception they had to debunk was that all deaf people need wheelchairs. Like, what EXACTLY do people think a person's ability to perceive sounds has to do with the function of their legs? I'm just so baffled! People can't think it through for just 5 seconds?! Maddening. In high school once, someone sincerely asked a deaf student if they could read braille. She actually had to respond "No, being deaf doesn't mean I can't just read standard written text. It means I can't hear." I had the most profound secondhand embarrassment for both the questioner & the deaf student! It still hasn't been topped for me. (The interpreter was a CHAMP, didn't crack at all. Just translated straight across with a perfectly neutral face. What a professional!)

[@GreayStone]

My question is do these people work for mental floss or where they hired for the video.

[@greenredblue]

I'm jealous of all these people who know sign language.

[@nikkigriffin6441]

So glad this video fi ally got made after so long in the works. This was well done. My favorite misconception is that deaf prople are quiet. The idea is freaking hilarious. Often people who grew up deaf its harder to tell how loud there voice is. So if they do talk it's often louder than they intend. To the extent that most deaf people I know have to actively avoid libraries

[@resourceress7]

Yeah and wait till you live in a dorm and your deaf neighbor's alarm clock is going off, and they are not even home to turn it off. Deaf alarm clocks can be either very loud (and sometimes the user can choose the pitch range from very low to very high), or flash a light, or vibrate the bed enough to feel through the mattress. Or all three at once.

[@romulusnr]

I got a 90 on my Spanish exam and I still barely was able to get beyond one sentence at a time in Mexico.

[@dinahmyte3749]

I have a degree in German and can barely write a sentence. I consider my knowledge reading only.

[@gwen9697]

i appreciate how everyone’s dedicated to the gag of loosing track of which misconception they’re on xD

[@Mermaid404]

DEMARCO IS A GOOD DANCER TOO! He was in Dancing with Stars!

[@Antenox]

I love how expressive sign language is! I wonder if that’s a characteristic of ASL (I’m assuming they’re all using ASL) or if it’s something all/most sign languages have

[@Emthe30something]

I can only speak to ASL specifcally. But, yes it's part of signed languages ! Their expressions are part of the language. eyebrow placement, mouth shape, etc are part of it (sometimes called facial grammar). That's why it's ASL is it's own language: syntax , grammar (!), vocabulary are all as deeply complicated as spoken languages. That said, some expressions are just their fantastic hosting personalities!

[@Pai262]

It's so interesting to see how different ASL is from DGS (Deutsche Gebärdensprache = German sign language). I can't explain it but the vibe is just different and so close to the spoken American English

[@jamiegould7951]

The airport wheelchair thing is actually a practical thing - in airports where there isn't one of those little car things available to take folks who need assistance around to the next gate, having the person who needs *any kind* of assistance in the wheelchair makes it immediately obvious they are with an assistant, it streamlines the process when going through security, priority boarding etc if everyone using the quick access routes goes through in a chair. Whoever is manning that route can see immediately that you're supposed to be going through that way. I've gone through when I was using a walking stick and wanted help with my hand luggage, and was told if I wanted assistance I *had* to go in the chair with my luggage on my lap, they can't just provide a helper to walk with me and take my luggage. My understanding is, in general, if you need assistance, you're going in the chair. Not because they think you can't walk, but as a solution that means everyone gets to where they need to be, in a way that is quickly visible/verifiable.

[@KiloDeltaOneSierra]

Interestingly i have hearing loss. Not from loud exposure oh no mine is scar tissue from ear infections when i was a child. And languages i learnt when i was younger weren't ASL but Spanish and Italian.

[@ahmieyeung5812]

One they missed, British sign language and American sign language are not compatible! American sign language uses a one-handed alphabet British sign language uses both hands for the letters of the alphabet. That is one of the differences I was able to glean the one time I got a chance to interact with British signers. I am hard of hearing, I speak fluently and I can sign but only in American Sign Language so I need an interpreter to interact with Deaf British people.

[@VTPPGLVR]

The guy in blue stripes is awesome! 😂 And the guy with the locs seems like he would be a great teacher. 👨‍🏫

[@scruffy381]

The misconception of everything we touch, we break. Basically, we can't just do any thing right . That really hit home . #ENDTHESTIGMA

[@KarlFFF]

Happy that you made this video and love that you got actual deaf people to host, but the "misconception number [Insert random large number here]" joke wasn't good the first time and didn't get better through repetition. I'd love to see more videos about misconceptions about people groups with relevant hosts like this one.

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

one of my great-nephews is deaf in one ear and is hard of hearing due to it being inherited from his great-grandmother who was deaf at the age of 20 she wore two hearing aids and gets a hearing test yearly the dr, says a hearing aid will make it worse.

[@JulianApostate]

For a longer time than I'm comfortable admitting I thought sign language was basically a constructed language, like Navi or Toki pona. I didn't get that sign language developed naturally, just like oral (?) languages. Today it seems so obvious, but what can I say? I was stupid

[@knifetoucher]

They took some of those misconceptions personally lol. Like "how fucking DARE you not know sign language isn't universal?!?!?!?!"OK, sorry for not knowing, MOM!

[@CryptoTonight9393]

12:45 I'm so confused :( I've been told by multiple deaf people that calling them deaf was offensive and they wanted to be called hearing impaired.

[@dinahmyte3749]

It's a preference. I use Deaf because of classes I've taken. It's also why I call myself brown or queer but refer to other people as People of Color or LGBTQ+ people. It's a preference and really, I take the path of least resistance for GROUPS and use the preferred term for individuals.

[@zacharydevan4107]

Some deaf people like my step father can understand if someone speaks louder. There are levels of deafness.

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

And almost 2022

[@qwaqwa1960]

The thumbnail reminds me of Win3 autumn leaves wallpaper :-}

[@JohnnyGiddingsCubed]

8:53 I HATE this. No one asks to be deaf. It is a disability, and I don't actually care if you think it's not. You may have lived your whole life with it and be used to it, but not one single young child would take being deaf over not. If a child can get implants and have them function properly, you as a parent, in my opinion; are morally obligated to get them (assuming you can afford them)

[@jturner2577]

THIS. ALL OF THIS!

[@camaro88rds]

I totally agree.

[@katherinegilks3880]

If you're not deaf, you don't get a say. You sound like the parent who forces their autistic child to applied behavioural therapy and their LGBTQ+ child to conversion therapy. Cochlear implants, forcing lip-reading, discouraging signing, and calling someone disabled (literally means "defective") and implying they shouldn't have kids is BAD PARENTING. You are taking away the life they know and a whole world and community because you want your child to be more like you. Because it is easier FOR YOU, not them. Don't delude yourself into thinking you are being morally righteous and that all of the other parents are not. If a deaf person says they are not disabled, they are not. You don't get to say they are. They are right, you are wrong, end of story.

[@jturner2577]

@@katherinegilks3880 You're the one who's delusional lady. I'm autistic and I find you comparing curing/treating deafness to applied behavioral and conversion therapy to be downright insulting.

[@alberthollow1737]

@@katherinegilks3880 Its literally a disability, They do not have the ability to hear. Lacking a basic human ability is a disability. You straight up do no understand words.

[@LeonardGreenpaw]

This might seem like I am making a joke, but I am being serious when I say as an artist, I will need to remember to refer to this video when looking for references for expressions. Really, the people in this video seem to be saying more with just their face than most people I know say with full use of speech. So much tone in their movements

[@mylittlegargoyle822]

My mom is deaf and so many of the signs they use in this video are different than what I’ve been taught. About to go email her right now and ask what’s up lol.

[@Neophlegm]

The presenter who described himself as "SUuuUuuuper gay" genuinely made me laugh out loud. Well presented, well researched, very interesting.

[@kevinmeserole7345]

I find these people while well meaning also come across as condescending. On more than one occasion I encountered two deaf guys on a subway train that were smacking their seats while they were having a conversation and startling the hell out of me. I would say they were politeness empaired. I think a deaf person being offended by a word like impaired is reality impaired. It's a definite sign of the times nitpicking and looking for a way to be offended. Also the statement "I'm proud to be deaf" is something that doesn't make sense to me. A deaf person being proud of their accomplishments, their ability to communicate well or their having overcome any disadvantage that they may have experienced being unable to hear I can understand. Being easily offended and condescending is nothing to be proud of.

[@Sizey3]

Before even playing the video, I'm expecting some mind blowing shit like "myth: they can't hear"