Each person should be literate in at least one language with a basically phonetic written form

I know your claim is meant to include English, but I have a hard time accepting that English is even basically phonetic. I agree that knowing a language with a phonetic written form is useful, and maybe even important, but I don't think English counts for this purpose.

each person would include the deaf and mute?

I don't like these claims. They're very prescriptive.

Should in this instance, I believe, should be taken more along the lines of "it would be preferable if". If we take that as a given, then I would certainly prefer those who were currently deaf and mute to be able to hear, speak, and be literate in at least one language with a basically written phonetic form.

it should, should it?

nic: yes, absolutely. note that this claim doesn't say they should speak it, but being literate in it is pretty useful for communication across distance. I beleive that most Deaf people in the U.S., even counting those who are never forced into the oral methods, are at least somewhat literate in English, which is useful for TTY, email, IM, and many other forms of communication both with other Deaf people and the hearing.

plus what ben said.

and to the extent that it would be possible, I addressed that in the head of this claim thread.

(though i do personally think that they should -- again, meaning preferable in an ideal world, from a practicality point of view -- learn some of the oral method as it gives them more options to communicate with the majority (hearing) population. that said, i don't think they should learn lip-reading and oral speech as their primary language, as some advocate.)