With regard to statutory authorities recognising the rights of deaf people¹, it is increasingly common to see the Scottish Government/Executive and other statutory authorities labelling deaf people as 'sensory impaired' or placing deaf people in a 'sensory impairment' client group in their plans or policies.

SCoD welcomes recent government initiatives (for example, the Sensory Impairment Action Plan, 2003) in planning services and resource allocation not only for those with physical impairment but also for those with sensory impairment, which may have an impact on communication, social interaction, access to information and services and mobility.

However, the term 'sensory impairment'² is so broad that it does not recognise that the different groups of sensory impaired people³ have needs, some of which are common to the 'sensory impairment' but others are unique to different sensory impairments. For example, there are two groups of deaf people defined by language preference‡

• Those whose preferred language or only language is British Sign Language (BSL). Such deaf people typically have been born deaf or have become deaf early in life. Deaf BSL users usually see themselves as constituting a linguistic/cultural minority known as the Deaf Community;

• Those whose preferred language or only language is a spoken language. This may be English, Gaelic, Punjabi or another community language. Such deaf people typically have become deaf later in life. However, some may have been born deaf or have become deaf early in life, but only exposed to a spoken language

The term ‘sensory impairment’ can be applied to a disparate group of people, including those who could be described as blind or visually impaired, deaf, hearing impaired, hard of hearing, deafened, Deafblind or dual sensory impaired.

Although the term 'impairment' is in common usage, we acknowledge that many people with sensory needs do not see themselves as being impaired within a medical model. Moreover, many individuals do not wish to be categorised or defined by others in terms of impairment. SCoD, therefore, prefers that the following terms be used for the different groups of people concerned: 'Deaf Sign Language users; deafened people; hard of hearing people or deafblind people'.

SCoD strongly requests that the Scottish Executive and other statutory authorities, public and private service providers should fully recognise that Deaf Sign Language users, deafened, hard of hearing and deafblind people should be respected and treated as separate client groups. This means that separate plans or strategies (or one single strategy with several strands, each addressing different language, communication and/or mobility needs) should be drawn up for each theme (eg community care, health) these should have adequate budget allocations to meet the needs of Deaf Sign Language users, hard of hearing, deafened and deafblind people.

¹ The term ‘deaf’ comprises all those, adults and children, with the full range of hearing loss and includes those who are Deaf, Deafened, Hard of Hearing and Deafblind.

² This is a broad term used to cover visual impairment, hearing impairment and deafblindness: it tends to be used primarily by people and organisations not covered by the term – in other words, it is a label applied from the outside.

³ Deaf people (with a capital D) or Deaf Sign Language users consider themselves part of a particular group with a common language – British Sign Language (BSL) - and a distinct culture. Therefore, many Deaf Sign Language users do not regard themselves as disabled.

‡ Definition adapted from Creating Linguistic Access for Deaf and Deafblind People – a Strategy for Scotland, SASLI, 2002

Hard of hearing people have a significant degree of hearing loss and frequently use hearing aids to improve access to spoken language. The incidence of hearing loss increases with age.

The term Deafened people refers to those deaf people who have lost their hearing during the course of their lives and who may try to acquire a variety of new communication skills, for example, lipreading.

Deafblind people have a dual sensory loss or combination of sight and hearing losses which can cause difficulties with communication, access to information and mobility.