Myths about Deaf and Hard of Hearing People (cont'd)

Myth: Unusual sounding speech means the person is mentally retarded.
Speech development depends greatly on one's ability to hear him or herself talk. For the deaf person, the foundation for learning speech which hearing people take for granted is not there. The situation has nothing to do with intelligence.

Myth: Deaf people are mute.
It is incorrect to assume this. Some may choose not to use their voices if they think they will be difficult to understand or have inappropriate pitch or volume. In any case, terms like "deaf and dumb" or "deaf-mute" are outdated and considered offensive today.

Myth: Deaf people cannot use the telephone.
Some hard-of-hearing people have enough residual hearing to talk on the phone. Deaf persons use a device call a TTY and the Washington State Relay System.