I had the opportunity to explore the issue we were discussing in class on Monday night about whether or not Deaf/deaf is a label that Deaf actually assign to each other or use to refer to each other. One person blogged on the back post that Deaf do in fact use these labels, which I did not agree with. While I was in ASL 400 class with Laura Smith Thursday night I used that opportunity to explore this issue. The nice thing about that class was that we had a Deaf presenter who is doing her PhD thesis research in Canada, she had presented her research in a previous presentation but was in class on Thursday to tell us more about herself. My point in sharing this is that I had two different perspectives there on the Deaf/deaf issues. They both completely agreed that the Deaf community does not ask each other or label each other as Deaf/deaf. That these terms are mainly used in academic settings to educate the hearing population on Deaf culture and communication. So I extrapolated from her comments that in fact it would not be appropriate to approach a Deaf person and ask them whether they are big "D" Deaf or little"d" deaf. The important thing is not to ask their particular label but to approach every Deaf person with respect for their language and culture. I will always assume that a Deaf person I meet is in fact proud of their identity and that they embrace their culture and language, until they tell me differently.