Deaf Individual

A deaf individual, or deaf person, may mean:

  • a pre-lingually deaf person, someone who is deaf at birth or became deaf in infancy before acquiring mastery of a spoken language, will often have sign language as a first language, and may be part of the Deaf community. He or she may have learned some degree of speech communication, such as lip reading -- see Deaf education.
  • a post-lingually deaf person
  • a late deafened adult, may be hard of hearing and/or have a progressive hearing loss.

Deaf, a Deaf individual, or a Deaf person, (capitalized) may mean:

  • a person who identifies with Deaf culture.

Famous quotes containing the words deaf and/or individual:

    “Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face. As soon as one is aware of being “somebody,” to be watched and listened to with extra interest, input ceases, and the performer goes blind and deaf in his overanimation. One can either see or be seen.”
    —John Updike (b. 1932)

    “Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior.”
    —Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)