Family life

In the 18th and 19th centuries in Sweden, which Finland was part of at the time, deaf people were permitted to marry, if they had a basic understanding of Christianity and the husband could provide for a family. Marriages between deaf people at that time have not been thoroughly studied and source material is likely to be scarce. The first known marriages between deaf couples are from the second half of the 19th century.

Deaf people are a strongly endogamic group, which means that they have traditionally married within the limits of their own group. The eugenics ideology, which prevailed in the early 20th century, also affected marriage legislation and the basic rights of deaf people were violated by restricting their right to marry and start a family. Restrictions on the marriage rights were justified by saying that people born deaf were more likely to have deaf children. However, throughout history most deaf children have been born to hearing parents and most children born to deaf couples are hearing.

The heart of the deaf community is formed by families that have deaf people in several generations and sign language and cultural heritage are transferred naturally from one generation to the next. Of course, the community also includes all the other deaf people and their family members.