Dumb: a term once used to describe someone that would not or was incapable of speaking.

Over time, this word’s use has become minute, growing more and more uncommon as the years go on. And what’s seen as acceptable in the English language changes on a yearly basis, and the unwritten rules of political correctness are rewritten.
With the ever-changing rules come changes in cultural acceptability. Every group can be defined – black, white, Asian, Hispanic, deaf, blind, mute, physically handicapped, mentally retarded – and every
group can easily be offended by words that were at one point believed to be acceptable, and in some cases may still be seen as acceptable.
There is a great majority of students and teenagers that believe many of these words are still considered usable, when in fact they are sometimes highly offensive. But there are also many people that are simply ignorant to the fact that some phrases are offensive and derogatory.Recently, I met Jessica Willoughby, the student director for the spring play, “Crimes of the Heart.”
Jessica is deaf.
She’s not mute or dumb. She’s not challenged or disabled. She has no conditions or ailments.
She’s simply deaf. And to those who are hard of hearing, that is exactly how they prefer to be addressed:
deaf.
In many cases, people assume that the terms they use and the labels they put on certain people are correct; however, these terms are more often than not offensive to those they’re directed at. All it takes to right this wrong is a brief education in what is now acceptable in a constantly-changing society.
You may at times find yourself questioning whether
or not a term is derogatory, and all you have to do to receive an answer is ask. People would rather have you know the right things to say than have you dig yourself a hole because you didn’t take the time to ask.
Speak up; ask questions. Open your eyes; pay attention. Clean out your ears; listen closely.