Barry describes himself in video he did in 2009 as "deafless" person which means he sees himself as a human being first, and not about his hearing loss, his deafness or whether he's hard of hearing, deaf or Deaf. In the video below he asks a deeper question.
Does the term 'deaf' own us or control us? In some instances I've seen how the term 'deaf' control us to a certain degree where we are seen as slaves to the word. Have we forgotten the fact that we are human beings first before we are anything else? Think about it.
Carl Schroeder attempted to define a term for Barry is which is a no-no. The only person who is allowed to label or define him/herself as is the person him/herself. And not from other people. If Barry wants to call himself as a Deaf person, then so be it. Or if he wants to call himself as a deaf person, so be it. Or hard of hearing, so be it. Or hearing impaired, so be it. Or a deafless person, then so be it. It's important to see a person as a human being first with all other extraneous details as second. Once you get into the practice of that then it wouldn't matter if a person has a condition. It wouldn't matter if a person is deaf. It wouldn't matter if a person is blind. It wouldn't matter because the person is a human being first and foremost.
Granted that Barry went to Idaho School for the Deaf and graduated there but so what? Granted that he grew up in an nth generation household of deaf families and signing. So what? Lately the labeling of the term "Deaf" has increasingly become perverted away from the original definition to mean people who are culturally deaf. Now the label "Deaf" has become so muddled in its definition to mean anybody with a hearing loss. And how certain culturally deaf factions have attempted to hijack the term "Deaf" for their own selfish agenda as I have carefully outlined in a previous blog on that very subject. And why it is destined to fail in the attempt to mean an all-inclusive term.
It won't................work.
Carl, learn to respect those who prefer to define or label themselves as. Carl is attempting to control Barry. A typical M.O. of Carl's. It is not up to Carl to decide for Barry what label he should carry. That's Barry's decision. And his alone.