ID: A Black man with glasses wearing a light purple buttoned long sleeves shirt. He is standing behind the teal background with white text printed on the bottom left corner worded " Ritchie Bryant for RID President 2021."
English Transcript:
There is a considerable amount of research publications highlighting the use of the words Diverse Deaf Community as opposed to Deaf community.
I believe the reason for this phenomenon is to recognize Deaf-Blind, Deaf, Hard-of-hearing, LGBTQ, BIPOC, and Deaf Plus community members. These intersectional communities are often made invisible when they are simply placed under the umbrella of the Deaf community.
Again, the discussion about the needs of the Deaf community overlooks those marginalized communities frequently comes up. For example, when there is a discussion around policy and decision-making, this dialogue is usually based on those people who have the ability to see. When this happens, we overlook and neglect the needs of the Deaf-Blind community. Correcting this means we must consistently use the words, “Diverse Deaf Community” to remind us to not forget the communities within the broader Deaf community that RID serves.
I am committed to using the term “Diverse Deaf Community.”