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Deaf Versus deaf

Deaf Versus deaf: A Guide to Capitalization

Sam Allen
Eastern Kentucky University

Deaf Versus deaf: A Guide to Capitalization

Deaf: A cultural group of people who share the inability to hear.
The Deaf students socialize in the Sign Language Lab.

Deaf Versus deaf

deaf: The inability to hear; people who are unable to hear, but do not associate with the
rest of the Deaf world (culturally hearing).
As my grandmother got older, she went deaf.

Deafness, the inability to hear correctly, comes in varying degrees. People may be
born deaf or acquire deafness later in life due to sickness, old age, and other causes. All
of these people share the commonality of being unable to hear (partial and whole hearing
loss is considered deaf), so why are there any distinctions between Deaf and deaf.
Simply put, the terms divide deaf people into two categories: those who identify with the
Deaf world and those who identify with the hearing world.
The lowercase spelling of deaf is known throughout the Deaf community as the
inability to hear and describes individuals who are unable to hear; these individuals,
although deaf, interact and identify mostly with hearing people and rely on the English
language (as opposed to the native deaf language). Because people considered to be deaf
are not active members of the Deaf community, they do not share the Deaf culture and
are culturally hearing due to their involvement and shared knowledge/way of life with
those who are hearing.
The capitalized Deaf, defined by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries in Deaf in
America: Voices from a Culture, refers to a group of deaf people who share a language
and a culture (as cited in National Association of the Deaf). Those who are Deaf share a
way of life with each other; they have their own language (Sign Language), their own
cultural norms, and sense of collectivity. It is important that Deaf is separated from deaf

Deaf Versus deaf

to give proper respect to the members of this cultural/social group and so that the
condition (deaf) is recognizably different from the culture.
Mainstream America is unaware of the differences in the capitalization of the
word deaf while most are completely aware that other cultural/social groups (Jews,
Democrats, etc.) are to always be capitalized. In grade school, children are taught to

capitalize all proper nouns: National, political, racial, social, civic, and athletic groups are
all proper nouns therefore they should be capitalized (Berry & Brizee, 2013). Deaf people
should not be an exception to this rule, as a social group and a culture, people should be
taught to use a capital D when referring to culturally Deaf people.

References
Berry, C., & Brizee, A. (2013, July 12). A Little Help With Capitals . In Purdue OWL .
Retrieved February 23, 2015, from
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/592/01/
National Association of the Deaf . (n.d.). Community and Culture- Frequently Asked

Deaf Versus deaf

Questions . In National Association of the Deaf. Retrieved February 23, 2015,
from http://nad.org/issues/american-sign-language/community-and-culture-faq
Sutton, V. (n.d.). Physical versus Cultural Deafness. In Sign Writing . Retrieved from
http://www.signwriting.org/about/questions/quest024.html
Wells, J. M. (2009, August 7). Capitalization. In Purdue OWL . Retrieved February 23,
2015, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/2/1/42/