There are many misunderstandings surrounding Deaf culture.
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DEAF PEOPLE USE BRAILLE
Braille is for blind people. Deaf people do not need braille in order to read.
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ALL DEAF PEOPLE CAN READ BOOKS AND WRITTEN TEXT WELL
Many Deaf people (especially in third world countries) do not have much exposure to language prior to entering school, which makes learning to read much more difficult. This is not to say that Deaf people cannot read. Some Deaf people are proficient at reading. But a majority of the Deaf worldwide are functionally illiterate, and the quickest way to reach them with the gospel is not to teach them to read, but instead to translate Scripture into their heart language – sign language
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ALL DEAF PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD USE THE SAME SIGN LANGUAGE
In fact, survey work done through organizations like SIL International has uncovered at least 135 sign languages in the world, and it is estimated that there are over 350 sign languages total.
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ALL DEAF PEOPLE HAVE GREAT RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR FAMILY
90% of Deaf people are born into Hearing families (both parents are hearing). Of these, over 85% of those parents will choose not to learn sign language or to sign with their Deaf child. (The numbers are much higher in third-world countries or rural areas.) This creates a lot of frustration in communication between child and parents. Many times Deaf children will struggle to follow conversations in their family, and when they ask their parents, the parents will be unable to communicate the concept well, so they will often say, “Don’t worry, it’s not important.” If you hear this often enough, you start to believe that you’re not important. This also causes Deaf children to miss out on everyday information that Hearing children typically pick up just by overhearing conversations.
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ALL DEAF PEOPLE CAN READ LIPS WELL
In fact, only about 30-40% of speech is visible on the lips. It is a bit like taking a paragraph and blacking out half of the words. You can get the gist of what is being said, especially if you have context, but if the conversation suddenly switches, it is difficult for a Deaf person, even one who reads lips well, to follow what is being said.
