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Committee OKs technical bill clarifying terms for Deaf and hard‑of‑hearing communities
Summary
A technical cleanup bill brought by the Arkansas Association of the Deaf clarifies terminology (capital‑D “Deaf,” lowercase “deaf,” and “hard of hearing”) and endorses people‑first language; the committee advanced the measure by voice vote with no public opposition on the record.
An unidentified presenter described a multi‑page cleanup bill intended to clarify language in statute relating to deaf and hard‑of‑hearing communities. The presenter said the bill was brought by the Arkansas Association of the Deaf and explained distinctions the measure would reflect: capital‑D "Deaf" for people who identify culturally and often use American Sign Language, lowercase "deaf" for those who lost hearing later in life and may not use ASL as a primary language, and "hard of hearing" for people who rely primarily on spoken communication.
The presenter said much of the bill is editorial and focused on people‑first language (for example, "a person with Down syndrome" rather than "a Downs person"). Committee members asked no substantive questions, no public witnesses spoke for or against the measure, and the committee advanced the bill by voice vote. The transcript does not record a roll‑call tally.
The sponsor identified the Arkansas Association of the Deaf as the bill's requester; the transcript does not provide a bill number or additional fiscal information.
