Deaf People Don’t Need New Communication Tools — Everyone Else Does

Even if you don’t follow engineering news, you might have heard about the two University of Washington undergraduates who just won the Lemelson-MIT student prize. The video of their invention, gloves that they say can translate sign language into speech, has been popular on social media; as a Deaf person, I’ve had to watch as it worms its way through the Facebook walls of all of my hearing friends. They tag it with incredible claims: This technology will finally bridge a communication gap. It will revolutionize the lives of Deaf people. It will save us from our lives of suffering and solitude.

For these hearing friends, I only have one question: Why does everything in our society have to cater to you?

It seems like the only way a Deaf person can be taken seriously is if we convert our words to a spoken form. To access essential government services, we need to use a relay service. To attend important business meetings, we need to bring an interpreter. When I needed to renew my Internet plan, I had to get my sister to call for me, because the Internet company, of all places, does not accept email. A few weeks ago, I needed an ambulance, so I had to IM a friend to phone one for me.

Not only do we need to find a way to turn our ideas to speech, but it has to be perfect speech, too. I know more than a few Deaf people who can vocalize, but choose not to do so, because they get…