CHAPTER 38:

"Can 'Deaf' be used as a noun (as in 'the Deaf') or should it be used only as an adjective?"

I believe that classifying groups of people takes away from a persons individuality. For example, myself,  a hearing female ( a girl who can speak and hear without difficuilities) puts me into a group of thousands of other females who are not deaf. This classification leaves  every other aspect of characteristics that make up who I am individually somewhere off into the distance.
This exact feeling happens when deaf people are placed into a group (the deaf).
"Some deaf people object to the phrase 'the deaf'. They feel that it devalues the humanity of deaf people" (Moore, Levitan p. 246). There is no doubt that a person who is deaf is apart of the deaf community that live amongst us, but to refer  that group as "the deaf" can belittle many individuals that are in this classification.
A deaf person is an individual, just as a hearing person is. And, every person is entitled to their own sense of self, and I think it is important for society to recognize these characteristics in people and not classify them into these defined groups of people who all cant hear, (the deaf, the handicapped, etc).