Deaf and hearing children

In terms of identity, whether a deaf child is born to deaf or hearing parents makes a huge difference. Being born to a deaf family has always meant that the child shares a language with the parents. Such children grow up as members of the deaf community and their parents pass on sign language and the deaf culture to them. They also inherit deaf identity from their parents, and it is common for such individuals be active in the community.

The majority of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and they become members of the deaf community at different stages of their lives. Until the 1970s, this usually happened when the child went to school and met other deaf children. At a time when parents did not have access to sufficient information on deafness and sign language, it was common for a deaf child not to have a common language with the parents, and they communicated with self-made signs. Sometimes, parents were not even able to explain to their child what going to school meant. Today, the linguistic and educational decisions hearing parents make with regard to their deaf child have an impact on their child’s identity. Occasionally parents and children build this identity together and in some cases the child builds it later for himself or herself.

Hearing children born to deaf parents have always been part of the sign language community and they have lived between two cultures. From birth, they have been part of the deaf community and it has always been part of their lives. At the same time, they have acted as links to the hearing world. Before interpretation services became available, hearing children served as their parents’ ears and ended up having to interpret matters that they did not understand properly themselves. Such matters may have involved buying a car or negotiating a loan, and the children have had to take responsibility for important matters from a young age.

Being part of the two worlds was not always easy for hearing children. They had to face the negative, belittling and ignorant attitudes of the surrounding society towards their families, which have been hurtful or have aroused anger in them.

For hearing children born to a deaf family, the language used at home may have changed over time, which has impacted how they viewed their identity. The language may have been sign language or spoken language, and in the best case scenario these children grow up bilingual and bicultural. Some of these children have demanded the right to use sign language in society.

Click here to find more information on the Sign Language Act.

Throughout deaf history, many hearing children of deaf parents have been active members of the deaf community. Such children included Julia and Julius Hirn. As a journalist, Julius highlighted various matters related to deaf people and served in elected positions and carried out pioneering work in several projects. Julia focused on charity work. The Eklunds’ daughters, Elma and Thyra, were involved in association activities, as were Julia Stadius and her daughter, Rea. Eino Savisaari was a popular minister for deaf people. His brother, Runo, was a long-serving chairperson of the Association for the Deaf and helped smooth the path for several important projects.

To read the personal histories of Julius Hirn and Elma Eklund, click on the links.

Elma Eklund said that the children in her family learned to sign before they learned to speak. According to Rea Stadius, her family was multilingual and sign language, Finnish, Swedish and the Karelian dialect were used. As she described it, the Association for the Deaf was one big happy family where numerous engagement parties and weddings between deaf people were celebrated.