Deafness

== Cultural context ==
{{Main|Deaf culture}}
[[File:Sign Union flag.svg|thumb|237x237px|The flag of the deaf community made by [[Arnaud Balard]]]]In a cultural context, [[Deaf culture]] refers to a tight-knit [[cultural group]] of people whose [[primary language]] is [[Sign language|signed]], and who practice social and cultural norms which are distinct from those of the surrounding hearing community. This community does not automatically include all those who are clinically or legally deaf, nor does it exclude every hearing person. According to Baker and Padden, it includes any person who "identifies him/herself as a member of the Deaf community, and other members accept that person as a part of the community",<ref name="book2">{{cite book|last=Baker|first=Charlotte|title=American Sign Language: A Look at Its Story, Structure and Community|year=1978|author2=Carol Padden}}</ref> an example being [[Child of deaf adult|children of deaf adults]] with normal hearing ability. It includes the set of social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values, and shared institutions of communities that are influenced by deafness and which use [[sign language]]s as the main means of communication.<ref name="padden2005" /><ref name="bigD" /> Members of the Deaf community tend to view deafness as a difference in human experience rather than a [[disability]] or [[disease]].<ref name="ladd2003">{{cite book|last=Ladd|first=Paddy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7PRLjkES83oC|title=Understanding Deaf Culture: In Search of Deafhood|publisher=Multilingual Matters|year=2003|isbn=978-1-85359-545-5|page=502|author-link=Paddy Ladd}}</ref><ref name="lane2011">{{cite book|last=Lane|first=Harlan L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KySGdskgT9EC&pg=PA1|title=The People of the Eye: Deaf Ethnicity and Ancestry|author2=Richard Pillard|author3= University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-19-975929-3|page=269}}</ref>

Many non-disabled people continue to assume that deaf people have no autonomy and fail to provide people with support beyond hearing aids, which is something that must be addressed. Different non-governmental organizations around the world have created programs towards closing the gap between deaf and non-disabled people in developing countries. As children, deaf people learn literacy differently than hearing children. They learn to speak and write, whereas hearing children naturally learn to speak and eventually learn to write later on. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wong |first=Fay |last2=Tang |first2=Gladys |last3=Li |first3=Qun |last4=Yiu |first4=Chris Kun-Man |date=2021 |title=Literacy Learning of Deaf and Hearing Preschoolers in a Sign Bilingual, Coenrollment Setting in Hong Kong |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/847513 |journal=American Annals of the Deaf |language=en |volume=166 |issue=4 |pages=527–553 |doi=10.1353/aad.2021.0034 |issn=1543-0375}}</ref> The Quota International organization with headquarters in the United States provided immense educational support in the Philippines, where it started providing free education to deaf children in the Leganes Resource Center for the Deaf. The Sounds Seekers British organization also provided support by offering audiology maintenance technology, to better assist those who are deaf in hard-to-reach places. The Nippon Foundation also supports deaf students at Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, through sponsoring international scholarships programs to encourage students to become future leaders in the deaf community. The more aid these organizations give to the deaf people, the more opportunities and resources disabled people must speak up about their struggles and goals that they aim to achieve. When more people understand how to leverage their privilege for the marginalized groups in the community, then we can build a more inclusive and tolerant environment for the generations that are yet to come.<ref name="padden2005" /><ref name="bigD" />