Linguicism

Discrimination or prejudice against individuals or groups based on the language or dialect they use, often intertwined with racism and ableism. In the Deaf community, linguicism commonly shows up as the privileging of spoken-language and English-based systems (Signed Exact English, English-glossed ASL) over natural sign languages like ASL, the suppression of regional and ethnic sign dialects such as Black ASL, and the expectation that Deaf people accommodate hearing communication preferences. Linguicism is related to but distinct from audism, which centres on discrimination based on hearing status; linguicism can affect hearing signers from linguistically marginalised backgrounds as well. Both are structural barriers that accessibility technology can inadvertently reproduce.