Deaf Community

A cultural and linguistic community of people who are Deaf or hard of hearing and who share a common language (typically a sign language), cultural values, traditions, and social norms. The Deaf community is distinguished from the broader population of people with hearing loss by its identification with Deaf culture and use of sign language as a primary mode of communication. Membership is based on shared cultural identity rather than audiological status alone — hearing children of Deaf parents and sign language interpreters may also be considered part of the community. The capital-D "Deaf" convention signals cultural identification, while lowercase "deaf" refers to the audiological condition.