TBC News, Issue 3

For many years people have labelled me a pre-lingually deaf person because I was born deaf, meaning I was deaf before I “acquired language". I am not alone, and I am very aware of this. Those who were born hearing, but became deaf at the age at five or six or later are labelled post-lingually deaf. They are lucky: They acquired “language" belore they became deaf; therefore, they are better adjusted to the world of language. If you look in the dictionary, you won't find either prelingual or postlingual, but if you look in many books on “deafness”, you will find these terms. And while it is probably the case that such labels are being used less and less, they are still in the files of many Deaf people.