[zaksoup]

I don't really understand why it's okay for you to tell other people what they have a "right" to be offended about, but not okay for them to tell you that they're offended about it.

Additionally, common usage of the phrase "falling on deaf ears" is almost never used to actually describe communicating with a deaf person. It's usually used to describe communicating with a hearing person who, for some reason other than physical hearing impairment, did not listen.

Therefor I think it is the exact opposite of a functional description. Instead it uses a physical disability to describe folks without that disability behaving in unproductive ways. Given that, it seems quite reasonable to say "this phrase could be seen as excluding to folks who have that disability".