The Deaf community is intrinsically linked to British Sign Language (BSL) and therefore it’s important to learn signs associated with being Deaf and the varying levels of hearing loss.
Terminology related to Deafness
HARD OF HEARING has two commonly used signs; either the letter H twice or your fingers and thumb coming together twice near your ear, both are demonstrated below. The sign for HEARING AID can be one or two-handed and left or right-handed depending on which ear(s) have hearing aids.
The position of the sign for LIPREADING can be modified to facing forwards if it is you that is lipreading someone else. Signs like these are known as directional verb.
A child of a Deaf adult is known as the acronym CODA. Visually this represents a Deaf heart.
General vocabulary
The Deaf community has faced many challenges throughout history and therefore vocabulary relating to equality is important to learn.
The English word right has many meanings. In BSL, these are signed differently depending on the context. The sign below refers to the noun where something is morally justifiable or correct, particularly used when discussing equal rights for the Deaf community.
Example sentences
Are you Deaf? is signed YOU DEAF? (use non-manual features to show it’s a question)
I am hard of hearing and wear two hearing aids is signed ME HARD OF HEARING, HEARING AIDS (two-handed)
My mother is profoundly Deaf is signed MY MOTHER PROFOUNDLY DEAF
Exercise: Compile 5 short sentences about Deafness. Below are some examples. Adjust the sentences to suit your background however if you don’t know any Deaf people personally, work through the sentences below and make sure you know how to sign them.
1. ME HARD OF HEARING, HAVE ONE HEARING AID (left ear)
2. MY SISTER PROFOUNDLY DEAF
3. MY WIFE CODA
4. ME LEARNING BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE
5. YOU DEAF?
Key points to remember
1. Learning signs signs related to the Deaf community is an integral part of your learning journey.
2. Some English words have multiple signs depending on the meaning, e.g. right has different signs for morally good and correct.
3. Learning some basic signs in BSL can help improve communication for the Deaf community.
Useful downloads and links
A PDF version of this page will be available to download soon.