American Airlines staff leaves "cruel" note on deaf passenger’s bag

This is largely a misunderstanding.  People born deaf are unable to learn to speak so were once routinely referred to as "deaf and dumb".  That won't do in the sensitive times of today, however

James Moehle and Angela Huckaby were returning home to Houston from a vacation in Hawaii when one of their bags was misplaced by the airline. When it was delivered later, a handwritten note attached to the bag read, “Please Text Deaf And Dumb.”

Moehle’s mother, Kaye Moehle, said the note was “outrageous and cruel and unnecessary.”

Airline spokesman Casey Norton said Friday that the employee who wrote the note did not intend to insult anyone and will go through sensitivity training.

One of the couple’s bags was misplaced on the final leg of the couple’s journey home, from Dallas to Houston. In such cases, American uses another company to delivery late-arriving baggage to passengers.

Norton said an American employee who is not a native English speaker scrawled the note to alert a delivery driver that he should contact the couple by text message when delivering the bag.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).