h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

1 The word Deaf, when spelled with a capital D, is indicative of linguistic preferences. A deaf person cannot hear; a Deaf person uses a signed language. There is a large overlap between the two groups, but it is possible to be one without being the other. (Actually, the question of whether some hearing people, such as those born to d/Deaf parents, can count as Deaf is somewhat vexed. I'm not going to get into it here.)
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I believe that's an underdeveloped definition of 'Deaf'. Although the capitalisation is generally used to distinguish between medical and cultural models, it's also to reveal a person's cultural identity, childhood upbringing, or cultural affinity.

In other words, 'Deaf' can be applied to:

- A person whose native or preferred language is (country-specific sign language)
- A person with a strong cultural affinity with other Deaf people
- A person who grew up in a grassroots Deaf community
- A person from a Deaf family who has strong roots in the Deaf community and/or Deaf culture.

The majority of CODAs (Child of Deaf Adults) tends to be bilingual (e.g. a sign language as their native language and a spoken language as their second or, as in most cases, preferred language) and they grew up among Deaf people. Some of them go on to marry Deaf people and, in some cases, have deaf children. With these factors in mind, they may define themselves as 'Deaf'.

Of course, there are members of the Deaf community don't approve of this practice, due to Deaf politics and their need to protect the integrity of Deaf culture. But really, they are no different from some ethnic minorities who have similar reactions towards, say, mixed race people.

In short, not all deaf people are Deaf and not all Deaf people are deaf. :D

Thanks for that summary. It's basically what I thought, but I'm neither deaf nor Deaf (by any definition), so I thought it safest to keep out of it.

TRiG.