Unacceptable Terms:

• Hearing Impaired. This implies that something is broken.
• Deaf and Dumb, or Deaf-Mute. These terms are considered insulting.^{Footnote 1}

Equality and Access for the Deaf in the Workplace

Equality and access are the goals of all. The Deaf in the community at large and within the community of Boeing are no different. Both our society and workplace have structured themselves around our main senses – sight and hearing. If an individual is without either of these senses, ease of full access becomes difficult.

Inequality is created when information for some is more difficult to access than for others. Deaf people want to be thought of and treated as equal to other staff in the workplace. This means that they want to take on new responsibilities and learn new skills, the same as hearing employees. In order to do this, we must ensure that access to information is facilitated for our Deaf workers

Deaf Culture

Culture is defined as “a set of learned behaviours of a group which has its own language, values, rules of behaviour and traditions.” (Padden, 1980)

Deaf culture is a distinct, recognized culture, with its own history, customs, values and societal norms. Therefore, the Deaf community of Canada constitutes a unique culture, which shares some things with the main Canadian culture but differs in many significant ways.