Over the last decade or so, referring to ‘Deaf Talent’ or using the hashtag has become a natural and common way of encouraging and recognising deaf creatives’ skills and achievements on social media.

And the idea of someone owning a commonly used hashtag or term, or for there to be restrictions on using it, is something that most people on social media would find hard to imagine.

However, a trademark dispute has led to fears that deaf people will no longer be able to use the term or the hashtag – on social media or otherwise.

And there are serious implications as a result of this. In the last two days, we understand that the UK group Deaf Talent Collective has been suspended from Twitter due to a trademark dispute over the group’s name.

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