Being Hard of Hearing, I disagree with Alexander Graham Bell Association's

view regarding the deaf culture in this letter to PepsiCo that they were misleading stereotype presented in their advertisement. AGBell seems to forget that the Deaf Culture represent about 400,000 to 500,000 of 30 million Americans who live with hearing loss. In fact, the Deaf actually feel they are in the minority and being discriminated by the letter. The hard of hearing like me share with the Deaf in terms of hearing, its just that the hearing-impaired often don’t have access to the Deaf community’s culture and tradition. There are so many hearing-loss poeple who even don't make any efforts to understand or accept the Deaf culture.

Therefore, in this situation, advocacy groups for the deaf and hearing loss were established to focus on their own particular needs. Deaf's needs versus hearing-loss needs. The "the miracle of sound" is a catchy phrased that was used in the letter however, those who are completely deaf would not have the joy of having the "miracle of sound". The word “Deaf”, with the capital “D”, is the term that refers to a group of people who have their own culture. Through sign language (ASL), they have established the bond by making them feel a strong cultural bond with other Deaf.

Is there anyway that National Association of the Deaf, Hearing Loss Association of America and Alexander Graham Bell Association of the Deaf get together and find ways to understand and accept one another's differences?