Jacob Salem

Civic Issue: Stop Audism!

Prior to the initial proposal, the professor initiated a class discussion and
asked the students, including myself, to list a number of civic issues that have not
or not well addressed in our community and I immediately thought of one that I
personally have experienced. Thus, I have chosen audism as a civic issue due to its
severe lack of awareness and have not been given the same amount of attention as
all issues. The term, audism, was coined in 1975 by Dr. Thomas Humphries and it is
defined as, quoted, The notion that one is superior based on ones ability to hear or
behave in the manner of one who hears. In other words, it is a form of
discrimination that is practiced against people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. In
fact, I have been discriminated numerous times and even today, audism is not wellknown in our community. After discovering the written thesis and online sources, I
happened to be equipped with resources and information to develop a project on
audism. Though this project requires time and commitment, I am confident that
goals can be accomplished on a small-scale through community discussion and it
will lead to the overall goal in the long run: Stop Audism!
While civic issues can vary in degrees of importance and priority from
individual to individual and group to group, I consider mine personal and important
and it has been an on-going issue in our community for many years. Though it was
coined in 1975, audism existed years ago and people still do not realize this form of
discrimination practiced against people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. This civic
issue has become an increasing problem in our society due to an establishment that
misinforms and ill-educates people about deaf and hard-of-hearing such as theyre

isolated, inferiors, illiterate, dependents, second-class citizens, and passive. The

root cause of this civic issue is not clear however, it has been reported that media
misrepresentation and professionals resulted in a form of discrimination towards the
population of deaf and hard-of-hearing people. There are forms of audism that are
not solely limited to hearing people and deaf people can also practice these form of
discrimination. In this instance, a person who believes that deafness equates to
inferiority is considered as an audist who believes that hearing people and hearing
culture are superior to that of deaf people. Dysconscious is a form of audism and
has been a barrier to the Deaf culture which is in favor of what is normal for the
hearing community. This form of audism often means that deaf people must
conform to the ways of hearing society which greatly impacts deaf education in
terms of not recognizing American Sign Language as a means of communications.
The ideal example is the History Department under University of Central Florida
doesnt recognize American Sign Language as a foreign language.
The plan for rhetorical action to reduce a form of discrimination practiced
against the deaf and hard-of-hearing people can be time-consuming but this project
is a long-term goal which can be accomplished with many short-term goals in the
long run. Initially, the plan is to create and develop an awareness campaign through
viable resources, such as promotional items, viral videos, social media, and
numerous events. First and foremost, the project cannot be initiated until logo
design and slogan become finalized and it will serve as a crucial tool for increasing
awareness of audism. Evidentially, the logo design and slogan contributed to the
success of many political campaigns such as Kony 2012. Promotional items come
second in the order and will be used for dispatching the message to people in our
community. Sunglasses have been excellent in the aspect of promotional items due

to its low price and convenience in which logo design can be printed on both
interchangeable arms. In addition to the campaign, social media will be used to
reach people on large-scale and various photos and videos can become viral online.
In this instance, Facebook and Twitter have been used to report or share news with
people and its become a part of many peoples lives. Last but not least, the
campaign will end with a major awareness event which is to travel across the
country on foot to raise awareness of audism. This event has been done for other
community-related causes which seem to be effective in reaching the global
audience. More importantly, these endeavors can result in a maximum level of
awareness of audism and hopefully change the social perception of deaf and hardof-hearing people.
The project can succeed in the long run and several goals can be
accomplished in the short time such as creating a logo. I plan to use the blogwebsite and logo design as a sample of presentation. In addition, there will be
photos on the website that represent support for the cause such as a self-portrait
with logo in the bottom left corner. I also plan to obtain permission from the building
manager for plastering posters on the specific wall at University of Central Florida.
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