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DeafThe word deaf can have very different meanings depending on the background of the person speaking or the context in which the word is used. Medically, the term can be used to mean having profound hearing loss, a physiologicalcondition causing an inability to receive or process aural stimulation (i.e., sound). Culturally, it can be used in reference to individuals who see themselves as part of Deaf culture. The word ?deaf? used in a cultural sense is almost always capitalized (Deaf), while in a medical sense is almost always lower case (deaf). In the medical view, the global deaf population is very roughly estimated to be 0.1% of the total population (1 in 1000). [1]The figure is likely to be higher in developing countriesthan developed countriesdue to restricted access to health care. Worldwide, at least 5% of the population (1 in 20) is estimated to have less than average hearing. The great majority of people with less than average hearing are elderly or developed hearing loss after leaving school. [2] A minority of deaf people are part of Deaf culture. They are mostly either individuals who were born deaf (Pre-lingual) or became deaf at an early age (Peri-lingualor Post-lingual) and who have a "severe or profound hearing loss;" or are children of deaf parents. Members of Deaf cultureuse sign languageas their primary language and often emphatically see themselves as not disabled, but rather as members of a cultural or language minority. Members of this group use Deaf as a label of cultural identity much more than as an expression of hearing status. Deafness is not limited to humans, but can also occur in animals.
TerminologyDeaf vs. Hearing ImpairedOutside of the deaf community, deaf usually means a total hearing lossand someone with a partial hearing lossis more likely to be referred to as hearing impaired. These terms are used in the pathological sense, to indicate an illness or disability. Political correctnesshas led to a preference, by hearing people, for referring to a person as hearing impaired rather than deaf. In this sense it is a euphemismfor deaf. In fact, Deaf people who consider themselves part of the cultural and linguistic minority, the "Deaf World", take great affront at the use of the term hearing impaired. They consider it a politically incorrect term. In contrast, the Deaf cultural worldview uses the terms Deaf, with a captial d; hard-of-hearing and hearing in an "us" or "them" sense. In this view, "Deaf" (us) means to experience the world and embrace the values that Deaf people embrace, while "hearing" (them) means to experience the world and embrace the values that hearing people embrace. This creates a Deaf cultural view in which hard-of-hearing represents a view of the world that embraces values from both the Deaf and hearing world. Indeed, within Deaf culture the terms hearing and hard-of-hearing are sometimes used to denigrate, provoke or insult both Deaf and hearing people. Deaf students from one school have been known to playfully refer to deaf students from another school as "hearing" during athletic competition. Historically speaking, Deaf culture has never embraced the term hearing impaired in this "us" versus "them" view because it is thought to be a generalization on pathology that tells nothing about an individual's values. Further, the deaf view of this terminology parallels that of a language minority rather than being a description of pathology or disability. The term deaf has been the traditional identification of culturally Deaf people for over two and a half centuries, or before the serious examination of hearing loss by medical practitioners and speech teachers, who introduced pathological terminology such as semi-deaf, semi-mute and the modern hearing impaired to the language, even began. Deaf remains the preferred term of group identification among culturally deaf people today. Members of the Deaf community often interact through organization such as the National Association of the Deaf ([3]) and through culturally Deaf web portals such as DeafSpot.net ([4]). These organizations and websites are cultural artifacts, not self-help or medical resources. Not all people who view themselves as Deaf are unkind to hearing people. They simply do not like being referred to as "impaired" (i.e., broken). Some deaf people refer to hearing people as "Deaf impaired" as a joke, to make fun of the "hearing impaired" label. Total deafness is quite rare. In fact, most people who are in the "Deaf World" can hear a little, but since hearing lossis frequency-based rather than amplitude-based, a deaf person's hearing is not usable. (They can usually only hear bass sounds and/or really high-pitched sounds, if anything.) Thus, they, and deaf-friendly hearing people, believe the narrow "total hearing loss" definition of deaf is inaccurate because they have the same needs as someone who is totally deaf. Other meanings of 'deaf'
As an acronym
Categories of deafness and hearing impairmentThese categories may be overlapping. Deafness or hearing impairment may be:
See also
External links
es:Sordera eo:Surdeco fr:Surdité hu:Siket nl:Doofheid ja:??? pt:Surdez simple:Deaf sv:Dövhet zh:?
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