Frequently Asked Questions
A: “Deaf” spelled with a capital “D” denotes a cultural and linguistic group of people with different degrees of hearing loss. Mainly using signed language for communication is the identity of Deaf people, this differentiate them from deaf people.
A: “Deaf people”- Yes! It’s their identity as explained above.
“The deaf”- No! Read above again.
“Hearing impaired people”-No! They never feel that they are impaired.
“Deaf mute”- No! Some Deaf people can talk.
“Deaf and dumb”- No! This is rude. How dare your are calling people dumb?!
For more information, please visit http://www.sigaccess.org/welcome-to-sigaccess/resources/accessible-writing-guide/
A: Sign language is not universal. Each country develops their own signs. Please note that there are dialects in South African Sign Language. However, several groups of Deaf people in South Africa do not generally experience difficulties in understand each other.
A: Yes. However, many Deaf people can read and write with limited skills.
A: Not all Deaf people can lip-read. This depends on the skills which individual Deaf person were trained at young age.
A: Yes. They also send text messaging via, for example, Whatsapp IMO, or SMS.
A: Not yet, especially the ones related to medicine and health. We need special (and national) approval to this.
