DEFINITION OF DEAF

The issue:

How do we define deafness?

CAD's position:

Deafness is medically defined by the extent of loss of functional hearing and by dependence upon visual communication.

The Canadian Association of the Deaf recognizes a person to be medically/audiologically deaf when that person has little or no functional hearing and depends upon visual rather than auditory communication.

Visual means of communication include Sign language, lipreading, speechreading, and reading and writing. Auditory means of communication include voice, hearing, and hearing aids and devices.

The CAD also accepts the definition developed by Gallaudet University for use in the United States census : "Anyone who cannot understand speech (with or without hearing aids or other devices) using sound alone (i.e. no visual cues such as lipreading) is deaf."
We emphasize that all of the above are strictly the medical/audiological definitions. The sociological/cultural definitions are explicated in the CAD position paper on terminology.

A commonly-used definition of deafness is the inability to "fully acquire spoken linguistic skills through [the] auditory channel, aided or unaided" (J. Woodward, "Implications for socio-linguistics research among the Deaf", Sign Language Studies, 1972). The CAD rejects this definition because it excludes all post-lingually deafened persons.

The CAD also rejects the definition, often used by the Canadian Government, that deafness is the inability to use the telephone with or without the assistance of hearing aids and/or volume controls. Telephones are communication devices, they are not audio-scans.

We likewise reject the definition used by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, based on Treasury Board guidelines and tax legislation, that uses a person’s ability to hear another person with whom he/she is familiar, in a quiet setting. Our lives are not lived in quiet settings, and persons already familiar to us are not the only persons we must deal with in our everyday lives. Moreover, this kind of definition itself contradicts the stated purpose of the disability tax credit, which is to compensate us for "functional limitations", i.e., barriers that society erects that prevent us from fully participating in society. How can hearing a familiar person in a quiet setting define our "functional limitations" in society at large? There is no legitimacy in a definition that measures our deafness by our ability to hear Mommy speaking quietly in the family kitchen!

As the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency guidelines show, any realistic definition of deafness must give consideration to environmental noises. In a quiet room with one or two other persons present, many hard of hearing persons can function quite well with a hearing-aid. When any kind of noise such as traffic, air conditioning, or numerous other people enter the situation, however, the hard of hearing person who does not have Sign language can in effect become deaf. This example demonstrates that hearing loss per se cannot be used as the sole factor or as a "stand-alone" factor in defining deafness.

approved: 17th July 2002

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

The Canadian Association of the Deaf
203 - 251 Bank Street
K2P 1X3
(613)565-8882 TTY
(613)565-2882 Voice
(613)565-1207 Fax
www.cad.ca

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