::::::::I think we've both made some stupid comments here, and I think that the last few replies - if not the entire section - just need to be deleted. And, no, I didn't know that "deaf-mute" is generally considered offensive, or I wouldn't have used the term. But that's exactly my point - the offensiveness of "nigger" is very well-known; the use of "dumb" to refer to people is acceptable only in very limited historical contexts; the offensiveness of "deaf-mute" is less well-known, and some people - as I did, until your correction - believed it (mistakenly) to be the appropriate term. Now that I've been informed otherwise, I won't use it.    
 "deaf-mute" or "deaf