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.
