Tennessee legislators want to replace “deaf and dumb” term

We may think the words, “deaf and dumb,” belongs to an era in the past when people used horses for transportation, but the phrase is still in Tennessee state law.

Newsweek reported that Tennessee State Rep. Darren Jernigan (D) and Tennessee State Senator Becky Duncan Massey (R) have introduced bills to replace the phrase “deaf and dumb” to “deaf or hard of hearing” wherever it may appear in Tennessee state code.

Jernigan’s bill, HB 1670, was introduced on January 10 and it passed out of a subcommittee. It will need to go through two more committees but it seems like there’s no kind of opposition. Here is the text of the bill.

[Full-screen image: Text of HB 1670] BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Sections 66-23-104, 66-23-114, and 66-23-115, are amended by deleting the language "deaf and dumb" wherever it may appear and substituting instead "deaf or hard of hearing". SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.]

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Alex: Jernigan told a local news station that he found out about the offensive phrase from a librarian. He said, “Words matter and so we need to have the correct language.”

Newsweek explained that the phrase “deaf and dumb” appears several times in Tennessee law on dealing with how to handle witnesses in court.

Sen. Massey said “…When you’re in a court system or you’re being recognized by Tennessee law, because you are hard of hearing or cannot speak, you’re not dumb. That’s not a characteristic of having a disability.”

The NAD told Newsweek that “deaf and dumb” is a “relic from the Medieval English era that is the grandaddy of all negative labels pinned on deaf and hard of hearing people.” The NAD said “dumb” later became a term to describe “silent,” but the term is still offensive and mischaracterizes deaf and hard of hearing people as silent people.

https://www.newsweek.com/deaf-dumb-aimed-cut-state-code-part-inclusivity-push-1675488

https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-news/lawmaker-wants-deaf-and-dumb-removed-from-tennessee-code/