What does audist mean?
An audist is a person who discriminates against deaf and hard-of-hearing people, or who holds the prejudiced belief that hearing individuals are inherently superior to those who are deaf. The term is derived from 'audism,' a concept coined within Deaf communities as a direct analogue to racism and sexism, naming a form of discrimination based on hearing status and the privileging of spoken language over signed languages such as American Sign Language. Audist attitudes can be overt, such as refusing to hire a deaf employee, or subtle and often unconscious, such as assuming that deafness is a defect to be corrected or treating sign language as less legitimate than speech. The word functions primarily as a noun describing a person, while the adjective 'audist' describes related policies or behaviors. Because it emerged from disability rights and Deaf culture activism, it appears most often in academic writing on Deaf studies, advocacy literature, and discussions of accessibility and inclusion.
nounA person who discriminates against deaf and hard-of-hearing people, or who holds the belief that hearing people are superior to deaf people.
- A person who discriminates against deaf and hard-of-hearing people or regards hearing as superior to deafness.
"Requiring all applicants to pass a phone interview without offering an alternative is an audist practice."
"Critics called the policy audist because it refused to accommodate sign language users."
"She confronted the audist assumption that a cochlear implant automatically makes someone 'fixed.'"
Standard English plural, formed regularly with -s.
"The workshop aimed to help well-meaning teachers recognize when they were behaving as audists."
Coined within Deaf communities as a deliberate parallel to 'racist' and 'sexist,' 'audist' names discrimination most hearing people don't even realize they commit.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of audist
The noun 'audist' derives from 'audism,' a term coined in the 1970s by Tom Humphries, an American Deaf scholar, to name discrimination against deaf people analogous to racism or sexism. Both words ultimately draw on the Latin root 'audire,' meaning 'to hear,' which also gives English words such as 'audio,' 'auditory,' and 'audience.' The suffix '-ist,' from Greek via Latin and French, marks a person who practices or advocates something, placing 'audist' in the same morphological family as 'racist' and 'sexist.'
Related word forms
How audist is actually used
The term is used chiefly in Deaf studies, disability rights discourse, and advocacy contexts. It carries a strongly critical connotation and parallels terms like 'racist' and 'sexist.' It is typically applied to attitudes, assumptions, or institutional practices rather than used as a casual insult.
Easily confused with audist
An autist is a person with autism, while an audist is someone who discriminates against deaf or hard-of-hearing people.