Alright.
I'm going to say outright, I do not feel bad for what I said, because as far as I'm concerned, it makes no difference.
My sister is the epitome of friendliness. Left alone on a beach, she will make friends with the rocks. The neighborhood we live in, though not the most upper class (by ANYONE'S stretch of the imagination), does have people that are more than scum, and they have children who know their ass from their elbow. The majority of these are girls, which is even better.
My sister is friends with pretty much all of them in and around her age range (8-14), and they call to the house. This can be irritating, with constant chirrupings of "is Lily there?" in nasally voices, but I can live.
Yesterday, a girl called while she was out, and asked if Lily was present, and had something of a lisp. I told her, no, I think she might be down in the park, and the girl left to find her. My father asked who it was, and I replied "a girl with black hair and a speech impediment."
This morning my sister asked who had called for her yesterday, and I said again "a girl with black hair and a speech impediment." Well, she freaked, because apparently the girl is deaf, and as a result, doesn't know how to pronounce her words properly. My parents are insisting I'm an insensitive *****, because surely I must have known, as deaf people are made to wear little pictures of ears with a red line through them >_>
My main problem is, there was no problem when I defined her by her main physical characteristics. She's a girl of about 11, with (and forgive me if I'm laboring the point) long black hair, and what seemed to be a speech impediment. I don't know the names of all these kids that call around to find my sister, so I'll just describe them like that.
I don't see the problem with saying that they have (that darned) speech impediment if I DIDN'T KNOW THE KID WAS DEAF FFS.
The girl doesn't know that that is how I described her (insert hard-of-hearing joke here), and she seemed to understand me fine, hence the idea of deafness didn't cross my mind.
[/rant]
Anyway, if a wall of text is obtrusive, tl;dr is describing a deaf person as someone with a speech impediment (GRAH) when you don't know they're deaf something to be reprimanded for?
And have you ever made such a faux pas without knowing? Did you feel bad or guilty?
I'm going to say outright, I do not feel bad for what I said, because as far as I'm concerned, it makes no difference.
My sister is the epitome of friendliness. Left alone on a beach, she will make friends with the rocks. The neighborhood we live in, though not the most upper class (by ANYONE'S stretch of the imagination), does have people that are more than scum, and they have children who know their ass from their elbow. The majority of these are girls, which is even better.
My sister is friends with pretty much all of them in and around her age range (8-14), and they call to the house. This can be irritating, with constant chirrupings of "is Lily there?" in nasally voices, but I can live.
Yesterday, a girl called while she was out, and asked if Lily was present, and had something of a lisp. I told her, no, I think she might be down in the park, and the girl left to find her. My father asked who it was, and I replied "a girl with black hair and a speech impediment."
This morning my sister asked who had called for her yesterday, and I said again "a girl with black hair and a speech impediment." Well, she freaked, because apparently the girl is deaf, and as a result, doesn't know how to pronounce her words properly. My parents are insisting I'm an insensitive *****, because surely I must have known, as deaf people are made to wear little pictures of ears with a red line through them >_>
My main problem is, there was no problem when I defined her by her main physical characteristics. She's a girl of about 11, with (and forgive me if I'm laboring the point) long black hair, and what seemed to be a speech impediment. I don't know the names of all these kids that call around to find my sister, so I'll just describe them like that.
I don't see the problem with saying that they have (that darned) speech impediment if I DIDN'T KNOW THE KID WAS DEAF FFS.
The girl doesn't know that that is how I described her (insert hard-of-hearing joke here), and she seemed to understand me fine, hence the idea of deafness didn't cross my mind.
[/rant]
Anyway, if a wall of text is obtrusive, tl;dr is describing a deaf person as someone with a speech impediment (GRAH) when you don't know they're deaf something to be reprimanded for?
And have you ever made such a faux pas without knowing? Did you feel bad or guilty?
