Deaf Parents of Deaf Children

Abstract

Our purpose in writing this paper is to share our stories with other Deaf and hearing parents of Deaf children in the hope that we can learn together so that all Deaf children can prosper. Our paper makes a case for all Deaf children having access to Deaf adults early in their lives. We describe how we felt when our children were diagnosed as Deaf, and we talk about visual communication and our use of this in assisting our children to begin school with good language skills. We emphasise the importance of literacy, the use of technology and the value that we place on spoken language. Our response to advice that professionals give is described in the context of our Deaf way. We share a vision of what the socialisation of Deaf children should entail and the expectations that we should all have for our Deaf children.