Comments on: I’m Not Deaf, You Don’t Have To Shout! (version 1) Tee Shirt http://nopitycity.com/shirts/im-not-deaf-you-dont-have-to-shout-version-1 Disability gear with slogans that tell it like it is Sun, 06 May 2012 13:18:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: admin http://nopitycity.com/shirts/im-not-deaf-you-dont-have-to-shout-version-1/comment-page-1#comment-11559 admin Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:35:49 +0000 http://beta.nopityshirts.com/?p=63#comment-11559 Andrea, An excellent point, and well taken. I apologise sincerely for not having thought of it - I do actually know that shouting doesn't help and I should have remembered that. Can you help suggest a different way to phrase the same sort of idea so I can design a new shirt to replace this? Perhaps "Shouting won't help me understand you" with a picture of a megaphone under the slashed circle? Andrea,

An excellent point, and well taken. I apologise sincerely for not having thought of it – I do actually know that shouting doesn’t help and I should have remembered that.

Can you help suggest a different way to phrase the same sort of idea so I can design a new shirt to replace this? Perhaps “Shouting won’t help me understand you” with a picture of a megaphone under the slashed circle?

]]> By: Andrea S. http://nopitycity.com/shirts/im-not-deaf-you-dont-have-to-shout-version-1/comment-page-1#comment-11507 Andrea S. Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:49:35 +0000 http://beta.nopityshirts.com/?p=63#comment-11507 I am Deaf. And, NO, shouting doesn't help me either. This T-shirt bugs me because it fails to challenge the mistaken idea that there is ANYone who benefits from shouting. So far, I have not met ANYone who likes for people to shout at them. Shouting makes it HARDER (not easier) for a deaf person to understand hearing people because hearing people move their mouths differently while shouting--and that makes it harder to lipread them. So I, as a deaf person, dislike shouting probably about as much as hearing wheelchair riders or hearing blind people. I understand that it is annoying when people so profoundly misunderstand your actual disability that they do unhelpful things like this. It annoys me too when people fail to understand what it actually means to be deaf. But can't you please find a way to educate people about your disability without reinforcing misconceptions that people already think they "know" (but actually don't) about mine? In the way your T-shirt is currently written, it seems to send the implicit message that shouting is only bad if the person isn't deaf ... and as a deaf person, I can tell you that that's not true. Thank you for your consideration. I am Deaf. And, NO, shouting doesn’t help me either. This T-shirt bugs me because it fails to challenge the mistaken idea that there is ANYone who benefits from shouting. So far, I have not met ANYone who likes for people to shout at them. Shouting makes it HARDER (not easier) for a deaf person to understand hearing people because hearing people move their mouths differently while shouting–and that makes it harder to lipread them. So I, as a deaf person, dislike shouting probably about as much as hearing wheelchair riders or hearing blind people.

I understand that it is annoying when people so profoundly misunderstand your actual disability that they do unhelpful things like this. It annoys me too when people fail to understand what it actually means to be deaf. But can’t you please find a way to educate people about your disability without reinforcing misconceptions that people already think they “know” (but actually don’t) about mine? In the way your T-shirt is currently written, it seems to send the implicit message that shouting is only bad if the person isn’t deaf … and as a deaf person, I can tell you that that’s not true.

Thank you for your consideration.

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