NASHVILLE, Tenn, (WKRN) — New legislation passed by the House Health Subcommittee aims to use more inclusive language in the state of Tennessee.

State Representative Darren Jernigan introduced House Bill 1670, which calls for Tennessee to replace the term “deaf and dumb” with “deaf or hard of hearing” in the Tennessee Code Annotated, which outlines vocabulary used in state laws.

Lawmaker wants ‘deaf and dumb’ removed from TN code (wkrn.com)

I believe the use of the word “dumb” should be applicable only to politicians and in combination with the word “motherfu**er” immediately after it.

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By Miguel.GFZ

Semi-retired like Vito Corleone before the heart attack. Consiglieri to J.Kb and AWA. I lived in a Gun Control Paradise: It sucked and got people killed. I do believe that Freedom scares the political elites.

16 thoughts on “Lawmaker wants offensive word removed from Tennessee code. I agree.”
  1. I suppose this politician doesn’t know that the proposal completely changes the meaning, because “dumb” is not a synonym of “hard of hearing”.

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    1. Don’t be so charitable to assume they were being well intentioned. I mean, Heinlein’s Razor says one should never mistake for villain that which can be adequately explained by stupidity… But, well, you all know they’d never give us the benefit of the doubt in a similar situation.

      So, obviously, we must treat this as a blatant ableist attack on the mute community. Probably fueled by white supremacy.

  2. Amazing how ignorant our Elites are.

    What does Dumb mean? Dumb is the Old English word that means “mute, speechless,” and itself came from an even older word dheubh meaning “confusion, stupefaction, dizziness.” Today, dumb still means “unable to speak,” but it doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence.

    https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/dumb

  3. For everyone pointing out that Dumb is a synonym for Mute, not Hard of Hearing: Jernigan is not ignorant here.

    Jernigan is in a wheelchair as a result of a traffic accident when he was in college. He has used his “differently abled” status to shield himself from criticism on certain things and also presents himself as a champion of those with disabilities.
    Additionally, he holds a degree in international health, has worked for the VA, and works closely with the state medical association to get their bills passed.

    There is no possible way he doesn’t know that these two things are different.

    So the question really is “why is he replacing mute with hard of hearing?”

  4. @pkoning: What I came on to say. Thanks.

    There is also a difference between deaf and hearing impaired, too.

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