We donât have a current ScriptFam blog like that, so my best suggestion for specific questions is to maybe try finding communities of Deaf people online and/or ask in a thread over in the Reference Desk forum on NaNoWriMoâs website (though youâll need a NaNo account for that, keep in mind). You may also want to check out any tags on places like Twitter and Tumblr for things like Deaf Culture, ASL, etc.I have been told or learned over the years some things you may want to keep in mind while doing your research though - particularly these three things:- In written English at least, there is a difference in meaning between âdeafâ and âDeafâ; âdeafâ might just refer to the disability itself, whereas âDeafâ, with a capital D, refers to someone part of the Deaf culture, which is something quite different, though I would ask someone from within that culture who identifies as such, for the exact definition or distinctions between the two, as Iâm not part of that culture and donât want to give you wrong information. I just know itâs a thing and Iâve seen people corrected on it before, so keep it in mind!- Places like the USA that have lots of regions and some form of Sign Language spoken in their borders, may have lots of different subcultures within their Deaf culture, which have for example, regional variants in Sign Language dialect (these variants can make HUGE differences in translation for specific words, particularly slang, trust me. Especially with any sign near the mouth in ASL dialects...). - Not every country necessarily has a Deaf culture though; Iâve been told by a friend of mine whose family is Haitian for instance, that there doesnât seem to be one in Haiti because of severe ableism there, where most people treat deaf people like theyâre intellectually inferior just because they canât hear, and donât really try to communicate with people who canât hear, thus isolating them and not giving them a social network or very many ways of communicating. In contrast, cultures which have developed or adopted at least one Sign Language (NOT just the West; I know China for instance has its own Sign Language...?) seem, from what Iâve heard, to tend to develop a Deaf culture of some sort. (My friend, who was losing her hearing in one ear as it was, was...not happy about this element of Haitian culture, as you can imagine, and was happy to have been born in the USA if only for that reason)These elements combine to make it VERY important that you distinguish exactly what you mean when you talk about writing a character who is âdeafâ; namely, do you just mean: âwhatâs it like not to be able to hear sound?â, or, do you mean: âwhat is it socially etc like, to be Deaf and speak Sign Language and be a part of that culture?â And, which Deaf culture would you be needing information on, is an important factor, because thereâs probably some important differences in regional Deaf culture just with in the USA, or UK, or France (all of which have their own Sign Languages), let alone between Europeâs and Americaâs Deaf cultures, and any Deaf culture that may be found in places like China. For instance, you will probably find a lot of little differences even just in the US between people who speak ASL (American Sign Language), who are usually born in Deaf families, and people who become deaf later in life and may learn something called PSE (Pidgin Signed English), as mentioned here (you donât have to watch this video with sound btw; she has it automatically captioned): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp4-m8Ih6QQtldr: From what I know, thereâs a difference between just not being able to hear, and being Deaf, and what itâs like to be either deaf or Deaf is additionally very different depending on the surrounding culture you have to or can choose to live in, and you will want to specify that VERY carefully when doing your research on this/these character(s)!
Some additional things I learned or noticed from speaking to a handful of Deaf people over the years, that you might find useful for some perspective or inspiration in your writing:- In ASL, at least, itâs not unheard of for some Signs to be a little too close to a lot of contextually uh, awkward ones, which makes sometimes for some amusing misunderstandings and mistranslations, particularly when the person using it isnât fluent yet. Can I provide at least one hilarious example? ABSOLUTELY: my friend mentioned above was trying to learn how to Sign âFirefliesâ by Owl City, and was talking to a Deaf woman, and mentioned that, and... it was only after the woman burst out laughing and said âSounds fun!!â, that said friend realized she had failed to fully close her hand movement on the word for âbugâ (which is a component of the ASL for âfireflyâ), and uh...accidentally renamed the song to âFiery Orgasmâ, apparently.  (Seriously, Iâm not kidding. Just ask ASL speakers about the difference between âhungryâ and âhornyâ, either, and youâll realize thereâs some hilariously appropriate wordplay opportunities in translating the song âHungry Like The Wolfâ...)- Skype and other video chat formats are popular with Deaf people in modern settings, for the obvious reason that it gives them the option to converse in their native languages. (This was something that was and still is a concern in Net Neutrality debates, actually, since having access to services like that allows many Deaf people to have normal conversations with other Deaf people even when separated geographically, so losing that access could socially isolate a lot of Deaf people)- Thinking that one canât possibly function very well without being able to hear sound, or just overlooking obvious solutions to that, or just never considering it as a possibility etc, is something Iâve heard referred to as âaudismâ or âaudist biasâ (NOT to be confused with âautismâ, which is a neurodivergence, of course; âaudismâ comes from the same root word as âauditoryâ). Audist bias is a form of ableism, and comes into play when people for example, canât imagine how people would get each otherâs attention if the other canât hear them (to which the Deaf response I heard was the amusingly blunt: âtry stomping the floorâ), or just...fail to recognize or recall that deaf or Deaf people exist and assume automatically that people can hear (sadly, this has happened with police before in the USA, and resulted in sometimes-fatal misunderstandings, e.g. when a man tried to approach closer in order to read the copsâ lips, and was shot because he could not tell what he was being told and the cops failed to consider he couldnât hear them, and it didnât even occur to them for some reason that the gestures he was making were Sign Language >_>); or, even itâs there when we folks who arenât Deaf, just assume that thereâs things that Deaf people have no access to or experience with, when they do (music, for an obvious example). Audist bias is something you will want to ask around a little about, trust me.- One major aspect of audist bias type ableism you might need to keep in mind depending on the needs of your story? Communication-related stuff. People might not realize your character can read lips (which is a common skill many Deaf people pick up out of necessity) and talk a little too freely in front of them for example; or they might conversely assume they can read lips when they canât (and blame them for not having a skill that most people frankly donât have); or, they might assume the person speaks a form of Sign Language that they donât, or that theyâre more fluent than they are (many people who become deaf later in life arenât as fluent, or may not speak a Sign Language at all, because itâs still a language and language acquisition as an adult is more difficult and takes longer); and if they do rely on Sign Language, their communication might become hindered - sometimes intentionally, sometimes not - if they donât have one or both hands free (for instance, if theyâre handcuffed, they cannot easily form most Signs). If youâre not Deaf, you WILL have some audist biases, and you will have to accept that fact and work from the understanding that you will have this bias whether you intended to or not. It doesnât make you a bad person or anything; it just reflects the fact that being Deaf isnât part of your experience, and that because of that, thereâs things youâve never considered from the correct angles before. When you do this research, absolutely keep this mind, itâll save you a lot of confusion, frustration, and mistakes, trust me! :)  Also, I donât know if this will be remotely helpful for your story but I love that itâs a thing and itâs part of Deaf culture, so here you go:Thereâs a whole genre of performance and translation, Sign Language translation of songs, that is frankly a lot of fun to watch when done well (which is hard to do!), since it combines a (time-constricted) poetic translation, with acting and dance. For example, I canât vouch for the fluency of the translation since Iâm not an ASL speaker, but this ASL translation I found recently of Queenâs âBohemian Rhapsodyâ is a delight to watch (especially with the âglossâ for the translation turned on!) even if you donât speak a lick of ASL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjln9OMOw-0I will tag this post with some relevant tags right at the front end, âNonny; keep an eye on any of the reblogs in case Deaf people respond with any corrections, addenda, etc! :)
