What Not to Do: Ethical Use of Deaf Experience Tip Sheet

Involving Deaf experience well means avoiding a few common mistakes. Use this tip sheet as leaders draw on the knowledge of Deaf staff and community members. It cautions against assuming deaf and hard of hearing identity alone equals expertise in every area, tokenism (including someone only for representation without a real role), placing people outside their actual area of knowledge, and asking one person to represent all Deaf perspectives when the community is diverse. It also reminds leaders to give Deaf contributors the same materials, context, and decision-making authority as everyone else, so their expertise is used respectfully and effectively.