Living Between Two Worlds: Deaf and Hearing

11 minutes ago

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“Living Between Two Worlds: Deaf and Hearing” by Cherlan Design. The left side is dark teal with circles spreading outward, labelled “Deaf world.” The right side is gold with sound-wave bars, labelled “Hearing world.” A white card in the middle shows the title.

Two worlds, one doorway

Every morning I walk through a door that most people never notice. On one side is my Deaf world: fast hands, expressive faces, jokes that land with a look, and a language that lives in the air. On the other side is the hearing world: phone calls, announcements over speakers, small talk at the coffee counter, and people who forget to face me when they speak.

I live in both. As the Deaf founder of Cherlan Design in Calgary, my customers, suppliers and neighbours are mostly hearing. My heart, my humour and my art come from Deaf culture. This post is my attempt to open that door wider, so hearing readers can step inside and Deaf readers can see their own life reflected.

Neither world is "better." Each one has its own strengths, its own struggles, and a lot to teach the other.

I am not asking the hearing world to become Deaf, or the Deaf world to become hearing. I am asking both worlds to open the door, respect each other, and build a future where everyone belongs.

What "hearing" and "Deaf" really mean

These words describe more than ears. They describe how a person experiences language, community and the world.

Word	What it means
Hearing	A person who can hear well enough to use spoken language as their main way to communicate. Most hearing people grow up surrounded by sound and speech without ever thinking about it.
deaf (small d)	The medical or audiological meaning: a person with little or no hearing. The WHO measures hearing loss in decibels.
Deaf (capital D)	A cultural identity. A Deaf person belongs to the Deaf community, uses a sign language like ASL, and shares Deaf history, values and humour. Being Deaf is about belonging, not about what is "missing."
Hard of hearing	A person with mild to severe hearing loss who may use speech, hearing aids, captions, sign, or a mix.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal makes this point clearly: being part of the Deaf community is not the same as having a hearing impairment. Many Deaf people also prefer "Deaf" or "hard of hearing" over "hearing impaired," because "impaired" suggests something is broken.

In short: hearing describes the ears. Deaf describes a people, a language and a culture.

How many people live in each world?

Of the world's more than 8 billion people, the large majority are hearing. But hearing loss is far more common than most people think, and the Deaf signing community is the size of a large country.

Group	Number	Source
People living with some hearing loss	1.5 billion+ (nearly 20% of the world)	WHO
People with disabling hearing loss	430 million (34 million are children)	WHO
Deaf people worldwide (sign language community)	About 70 million, using 300+ sign languages	World Federation of the Deaf, via UN
Deaf Canadians (culturally Deaf)	About 357,000	Canadian Association of the Deaf
Hard of hearing Canadians	About 3.21 million	Canadian Association of the Deaf
Expected disabling hearing loss by 2050	700 million+ (1 in 10 people)	WHO

Two facts surprise most hearing readers:

More than 80% of Deaf people live in developing countries, where services and sign language education are often limited.
Canada has never done a full census of Deaf people. The Canadian Association of the Deaf says its numbers are estimates, so the real count is unknown.

Why this matters: one day, many hearing people will lose some hearing too. Learning about the Deaf world is learning about your own future.

The gifts of each world

Hearing people often ask, "What is the benefit of being Deaf?" It is a fair question, and the answer surprises them. Deaf scholars call it Deaf Gain: the idea that being Deaf is not only a loss of hearing, but a gain of other strengths.

Strengths of being hearing

Easy access to spoken information: announcements, radio, podcasts, conversations in the next room.
Sound as a safety tool: hearing a car horn, a smoke alarm or a baby crying from another room.
Music and voice: enjoying songs, recognizing a loved one's voice on the phone.
The world is built for you: schools, jobs, phone lines and customer service all assume hearing.

Strengths of being Deaf

Sharper peripheral attention. Research from Gallaudet University shows Deaf people's vision is not better, but their visual attention to the edges of their view is. A 2026 University of Sheffield study found the Deaf brain shifts more resources to far-peripheral vision, like a visual "danger radar."
A rich visual language. ASL uses hands, face, body and space. It is a full, natural language with its own grammar, recognized as equal to spoken languages by the United Nations.
Expressive storytelling. Deaf people read faces and body language quickly. Our jokes, poetry and storytelling are visual art forms.
A close global community. Deaf people from different countries can often connect fast through International Sign and shared Deaf experience.
Focus in noisy places. A loud café, a construction site or a snoring partner? No problem.

Both lists are real. The point is not to compete, but to respect what each world brings.

Pros and cons, side by side

Every life has trade-offs. Here is an honest look at both.

	Hearing	Deaf
Pros	Society is designed for you · Easy phone calls and small talk · Hears warnings and alarms · Many job and school options without accommodations	Strong visual and spatial skills · Fluent in a beautiful visual language · Tight, supportive community · Unique culture, art and humour · Not bothered by noise
Cons	Often knows nothing about Deaf culture · Can feel awkward or afraid to communicate with Deaf people · Usually monolingual in spoken language only · May lose hearing later in life without any support network	Daily communication barriers · Must often fight for interpreters and captions · Higher risk of missing information · Job discrimination · Often the only Deaf person in the family

Notice something: many of the Deaf "cons" are not caused by being Deaf. They are caused by a world that is not accessible. Fix the barrier, and the con disappears.

The barriers between us

Barriers go both ways. Deaf people face barriers every day. Hearing people face barriers too, mostly when they try to connect with Deaf people and don't know how.

In Canada, Statistics Canada reports that in 2022, almost two-thirds (64.7%) of people aged 15+ with a hearing disability faced a communication barrier, in person, by phone, by chat or on video calls.

Barriers for Deaf people

No interpreter at the doctor, hospital, bank, school meeting or job interview.
No captions on videos, live events, TV news or social media posts.
Phone-only service: "Please call us" with no text, email or video option.
Audio-only alerts: airport gate changes, train announcements, fire alarms without flashing lights.
Job discrimination: being judged as "not able" before being given a chance.
Family isolation: sitting at the dinner table while everyone talks and no one signs. Many Deaf people call this "dinner table syndrome."

Barriers for hearing people

Not knowing any sign, not even "hello" or "thank you."
Fear of doing it wrong, so they avoid Deaf people instead of trying.
Myths, like "all Deaf people read lips" (most only catch part of what is said) or "sign language is universal" (it is not).
Few chances to meet Deaf people, so Deaf culture stays invisible.

The good news: almost every barrier on these lists can be removed with awareness, technology and a little effort.

Accents, dialects and different languages

Yes, hearing people have accents. And yes, Deaf people have accents too. Here is the simple rule linguists use:

Accent or dialect = same language, different style. People can still understand each other.
Different language = people cannot understand each other without learning it.

In the hearing world

A Newfoundlander, a Texan and a Scot all speak English. Their accents are different, but it is one language. Spanish and Mandarin, on the other hand, are separate languages.

In the Deaf world

ASL has regional accents. Signers from New York tend to sign faster, Southern signers often draw signs out more slowly, and Philadelphia signing keeps some older signs, according to Boostlingo.
Black ASL is a dialect of ASL. It grew in segregated schools for Black Deaf children in the American South. It often uses more two-handed signs and a larger signing space, and it is still understood by other ASL users (Wikipedia: Black American Sign Language).
Different sign languages are different languages. ASL, British Sign Language (BSL) and Quebec's Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ) are separate. A fun fact: English-speaking Americans and Britons understand each other, but ASL is closer to French Sign Language than to BSL, because ASL's roots trace back to French Sign Language (All Things Linguistic).
Sign language is not universal. The world has 300+ sign languages. International Sign exists for travel and global meetings, but it is a simpler contact system, not a full natural language (UN).

In Canada, the main sign languages are ASL and LSQ. Alberta recognized ASL as the language of its Deaf community in 1990 (SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia).

When hearing parents have a Deaf child

Most Deaf children are born into hearing families. More than 90% of Deaf children have hearing parents, and many of those parents have never met a Deaf person before (Terry, 2023, Health Expectations). A national U.S. study found fewer than 5% of Deaf and hard of hearing students have even one Deaf parent (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2004).

What these families often feel

Shock, worry or grief at first, because they were not expecting a Deaf baby.
Confusion from mixed advice: cochlear implants, hearing aids, speech therapy, sign language, or all of them.
Pressure to make big decisions fast.

The biggest risk: language deprivation

A hearing baby picks up language just by being around talk. A Deaf baby cannot hear that talk. If the family does not sign, the child can go months or years without full access to any language.

Researchers call this language deprivation, and it can affect thinking, school success, mental health and family bonds (Lillo-Martin & Henner, Annual Review of Linguistics).

What works

Start sign language early. A 2021 study found that Deaf children of hearing parents who started learning sign before 6 months old had outcomes similar to Deaf children of Deaf parents (Ko Taku Reo summary).
Sign does not block speech. Early sign can actually support spoken language and reading, including for children with hearing aids or cochlear implants (British Deaf Association briefing).
Meet Deaf adults. Deaf mentors show parents what a happy, successful Deaf life looks like.
Make the whole family sign, not just mom or dad. Siblings, grandparents and cousins too.

My message to hearing parents: your Deaf child is not broken. They need language, love and a community. You can give all three.

When Deaf parents have a hearing child

Here is a fact many hearing people get wrong: about 90% of children born to Deaf parents are hearing (CODA International). These children are called CODAs, Children of Deaf Adults. Younger ones are sometimes called KODAs, Kids of Deaf Adults. The term was created in 1983 by Millie Brother, herself a CODA, who founded CODA International.

How Deaf parents raise hearing children

Sign language at home. Many CODAs grow up with ASL as their first language, then learn spoken English from relatives, friends, school and media.
Visual and vibration tools. Baby monitors with lights and vibration, flashing doorbells and smart home alerts let Deaf parents respond to every cry.
Bilingual, bicultural kids. CODAs often grow up fluent in two languages and two cultures.

Myths about Deaf parents

A fact sheet from Through the Looking Glass and the National Association of the Deaf clears up common myths (source):

Myth: Children of Deaf parents will be Deaf. Fact: Most are hearing.
Myth: CODAs will have trouble learning to speak. Fact: Most bilingual children master both languages without help. Adult CODAs work as lawyers, writers, teachers and doctors.

The challenge: growing up as the bridge

CODAs are often asked to interpret for their parents at the doctor, the bank or school meetings, sometimes at a very young age. Research describes this as a form of parentification, where a child takes on adult responsibilities (Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education). The fix is simple: hospitals, banks and schools should provide professional interpreters, so children can just be children.

Millie Brother once described feeling comfortable in both worlds but fully immersed in neither. Many CODAs say the same, and they have built their own "third culture" between Deaf and hearing.

Why teach sign to every child, Deaf or hearing

Sign language is not only for Deaf kids. It is a gift for every child, and for the family around them.

Benefit	For Deaf children	For hearing children
Language on time	Deaf children exposed early to sign reach the same language milestones as hearing children learning speech (British Deaf Association)	A second language from early childhood
Brain and thinking	Protects against language deprivation; supports memory, reasoning and reading	Bilingual children are often stronger at language and analytical skills (NAD / Through the Looking Glass)
Feelings and bonding	Supports secure attachment, self-esteem and understanding emotions (BDA)	Can communicate with Deaf relatives, classmates and neighbours
Seeing others' point of view	Signing builds strong perspective-taking skills	Same benefit: research links sign to perspective-taking for Deaf or hearing learners (BDA)
Identity and community	Pride in Deaf identity and a place in the Deaf community	Grows up inclusive, without fear of difference
Future	Full access to education and jobs	A useful skill for careers in health, teaching, emergency services and interpreting

Imagine a classroom where every child knows basic ASL. No Deaf child sits alone at lunch. That world is possible, and it starts at home.

10 ways hearing people can step into the Deaf world

Learn 5 signs this week: hello, thank you, please, sorry, I love you.
Get attention the right way: a gentle tap on the shoulder, a wave in view, or flick the lights. Never grab or shout.
Face the person and keep your mouth visible. Don't cover it with your hand or a coffee cup.
Don't shout or talk super slowly. It distorts your lips and doesn't help.
Write, type or use your phone when you get stuck. Any communication is better than none.
Never say "never mind" or "I'll tell you later." To a Deaf person, it says they don't matter.
Turn on captions for every video you post, and ask your workplace to caption meetings.
Book a real interpreter for appointments, events and meetings. Don't ask a Deaf person's child to interpret.
Use "Deaf" or "hard of hearing," not "hearing impaired" or "deaf and dumb."
Support Deaf-owned businesses, artists and creators. Your money and your shares help Deaf people thrive.

Building the bridge, one sign at a time

Living between two worlds is not always easy. Some days I feel the barriers more than the bridges. But I have learned that the door between Deaf and hearing opens from both sides. When a hearing customer signs "thank you" to me for the first time, that door opens a little wider.

That is why I started Cherlan Design. Every ASL frame, mug, hoodie and ornament I make carries a sign into a hearing home. A grandmother sees "I love you" in ASL on her wall and asks what it means. A child learns the sign. A family starts a conversation they never had before.

Art is my bridge. I hope this post is one for you.

Your next step:

Learn one new sign today and share it with someone.
Share this post with a hearing friend who wants to understand the Deaf world.
Explore handmade ASL art and gifts at cherlandesign.com, and follow @cherlan_design for Deaf humour, ASL tips and behind-the-scenes from my Calgary workshop.