This essay explaines how deaf people used to be classified as mentally retarded, disscusses why people are deaf and how society has changed towards deaf people. Not Mentally Challenged Until the Middle Ages, the 1600 century and up to the 1800s, deaf people, (now defined as hearing impaired), where not integrated into the society. The lack of knowledge about a deaf person's capability, caused families to keep the handicapped person locked up in the house, hide …showed first 75 words of 770 total…

…showed last 75 words of 770 total…environment, will not get involved in discussions about the hearing impaired and stay uneducated. It is our job to integrate the deaf into the society and embrace them. It should be mandatory requirement of school systems, to teach sign language to children from an early age. Just like we adjust to other cultures in this country, the deaf are our own people, they speak their own language, and there is much to learn from them.