i am all for discussing the popular definitions of Deaf #elitism, but also want to emphasize the multiple truths in this narrative that aren't named and analyzed enough. like, say, white Deaf people from hearing families with class privilege and English language privilege- 1/

meaning, they can access English text via literacy skills and/or spoken English via residual hearing and/or technological interventions. our- yes, i am among this group- intellectual + corporeal privileges, combined with technology, often means that we were mainstreamed, or- 2/

solo-mainstreamed. more often than not, we internalized a lot of deficit thinking about Deaf people as a whole, ASL/sign languages, b/c that's what the system wanted us to do! that's the legacy of "LRE" and how white, $$-privileged people uphold as normative and successful- 3/

we often loved to pride ourselves on our "better English" and how much access we had/have to the "hearing world" and hearing people and made 0 effort to downplay such sentiments or access. talk about internalized dominance, and i bet most of us projected it all over Deaf who- 4/

dont have access to any of that. then, many of us go on to also use our internalize dominance to project unprocessed pain from having to be the "special snowflake mainstreamed kid" & enduring socio-emotional deprivation (& other forms) cuz hearing families ALL on Deaf ppl- 5/

who do NOT have the access privileges we have. these Deaf people are often Deaf of Deaf and alumni of Deaf schools whose families survived dire language, economic, & social deprivation thru the generations and do not have the "hearing social capital" (bourdieu) that we have- 6/

and so here we are, white Deaf ppl with corporeal, language access, and technological privileges, lording over our suppressed pain and trauma onto those who have way less dominant culture access than we do, and we contribute to the discussions about "Deaf elites bully me." - 7/

all the while not even recognizing how we hv the task of consciously peeling off the coerced and internalized audism that we cultivated over years and years- bc all of that is going to show up in so many of our behaviors. does it not make sense that the core members of -8/

the community will have some walls up when we arrive, particularly as new/ish signers in spaces such as Gallaudet? esp because the univ is slowly being suffocated by hearing students and those of us who aren't checking our privileges? and that it's on us to prove ourselves? -9/

i'd argue that we constitute a group of Deaf "elites" ourselves & that we are often directly responsible for perpetuating harm + trauma twds others in the community by carrying out our internalized audism & gaslighting/lashing out twds Deaf of Deaf for being dubious about us-10/

you will never catch me talking about "Deaf of Deaf privilege"- not when generations of Deaf families hv ensured the survival of sign languages and Deaf schools. it's often folks with my bkgd that have consistently wreaked havoc on the community cuz of our bullshit. - 11/

my main pts are: we need to have convos about how projected pain + trauma, coupled with internalized dominance, often create gaslighting conversations & misdirected, mislabeled experiences of "bullying" & "exclusion" that uphold a hyper-specific definition of "Deaf eltiism" - 12/

reiterating that i share these thoughts from the place of white, corporeal (residual hearing, speaking abilities), language access, and class privileges. this makes for a hyper-specific vantage point, & i share from my direct, lived experiences with these privileges - 13/

i'm a recovering "special snowflake solo-mainstreamed" Deaf kid who cultivated a real special breed of Deaf self- & community-hate, all the while trying to "make it" in numerous hearing spaces, including my own home. it's been my responsibility to unpack & process my shit. - 14/

so i share all of this with yall who may share the experiences i have- both social + personal- in hopes of others realizing their role in ending harm in our community. i offer: consider taking routes toward processing ur stuff before engaging in convos about "Deaf elitism." /end