Writing Deaf Character Tips
I’ve seen a lot of fanfic writers ask for tips to write Deaf characters so I thought I would write some out to help make authentic. Also feel free to send ask for any questions!
Deaf characters exist on a spectrum- it’s rare to have no residual hearing.
Deaf characters can’t magically hear perfect with assistive devices. Hearing aids are in the name- an aid. They make it easier to pick up some sounds. They are also expensive and a lot of insurance won’t cover.
ASL- American Sign Language. Deaf characters raised by hearing family might not have access to ASL until later in life. Percentage of Deaf kids educated in fluent ASL is low.
ASL has own grammar and syntax totally different from English, But! It is okay to write ASL in spoken English grammar, especially if you don’t know ASL. We know what you mean!
Avoid Deaf and hearing characters signing and speaking long sentences at the same time. It’s called Sim-Com and ASL users who can do it are rare because sentence structures are totally different. It would be like trying to write a sentence in English at the exact same time (word for word) as someone speaks it in French. Sim-com usually used with SEE and still hard for fluent ASL Deaf to follow.
Deaf characters can be dizzy! Many many Deaf have tinnitus and vertigo. Comes with many hearing loss conditions. Vertigo can also be triggered by flashing lights, heavy bass sounds. (very annoying in the car when driving and someone has loud, shake your car bass)
Deaf characters can also can have balance problems from inner ear issues.
Deaf characters can enjoy music! Many ways to enjoy music besides hearing all of it.
Lip reading is hard. You need to start at the beginning of the conversation, need constant context, and when you lose the thread it’s hard to get back. Many many words look the same on lips that sound totally different. Avoid magic lipreading in characters.
Character doesn’t need to have a Deaf accent.
Deaf character doesn’t need to talk loud. Many Deaf talk very soft because they feel vibrations before the vibrations make audible noise.
Deaf characters can be very fluent in written English and great writers but still have very poor sentence skills when being casual in texting or conversation (like me!) Hard to go from ASL to English brain, and makes you tired.
Deaf characters can use ASL Slang! ASL has colloquial signs that have no direct English translation but we use all the time (peh peh, train go sorry, champ, etc etc) Here are some examples!
That’s all I have for now. Hope it helped!
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