The general term to describe people who have acquired hearing loss and use spoken and written language is deaf with a lower case ‘d.’
Deaf with a capital ‘D’ is used to describe people who see themselves as belonging to a cultural and linguistical group who use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language. This means, many Deaf people find written English difficult. They share a visual language, experiences, and a sense of identity and often don’t recognise themselves as disabled people. However, Deaf people are protected from disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
Public Health Scotland’s video shares Debra’s experience accessing health services.
Useful links:
- More information about deaf awareness tips or general advice from Deaf Action
- British Deaf Action help and resources about BSL and sign language
- Turas has training on deaf awareness if you log in Scorm Player – Deaf awareness (nhs.scot)
