Deaf Awareness -Did You Know?


One in five Americans have a hearing loss.

One in three Americans over age 65 have a hearing loss.

One in five people who could benefit from a 
hearing aid wear one.

One in four deaf adults who can benefit from a cochlear
implant wear one.

Insurance companies do not cover hearing aids or 
Medicare.

Cochlear implants are covered 100 percent for children
but often poorly covered for adults, depending on insurance type, making it unaffordable for many.

90 percent of deaf and hard of hearing people do not
know or  use sign language and speak English.

The late deaf  and late hard of hearing are by far the largest deaf population and they usually do not know or use sign language.

The vast majority of people who are deaf  on an audiogram
do not know sign language. 

CART/OC/CC are various forms of captioning be it real time
'live' , open or closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Speaking is not hearing.  Many deaf and hard of hearing 
people find CART/OC/CC a very effective communication
access accommodation if they can read and speak for a two 
directional communication access to fully participate in groups, Mass and conferences.  They read the captions and respond verbally.

Baby boomers are the fastest growing hearing loss population
as they reach their senior years.

We can't been seen but we are 48 million Americans with a hearing loss.  

We are 12 million Catholics with a hearing loss.  

Hearing loss will double over the next decade due to baby boomers.


90 percent of the deaf speak English, not American Sign Language.

Research indicates correlation between dementia, cognitive decline and hearing loss due to isolation and lack of connection
to human and social communication.

We can't hear the Mass and Catholic conferences which
means we can't fully participate. 

Churches are exempt from ADA laws.

 ADA law says CART, real time captioning, OC/CC for groups, conferences and Mass is a reasonable accommodation.

The late deaf are an underserved population and are often
not being provided 'effective communication' access based
on ADA 2010 revision of the law that considers the users
primary language and communication mode.

We are excluded and marginalized if 'effective communication'
access is not being provided  in churches and other parts of church life like conferences even if churches are exempt from ADA laws.