In my previous post about Bob and Jane, they are both Deaf and in Bob’s family, several members are D/deaf and a female carrier.

Yes, there are many D/deaf/Hard of Hearing people who are either carriers, become D/deaf or Hard of Hearing in the family. Roughly around 70 million people worldwide. About 50%–60% of these cases have a genetic etiology; the remaining 40%–50% of cases are attributed to environmental factors such as ototoxic drugs, prematurity, or trauma (Cohen and Gorlin, 1995; Tekin et al., 2001).https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4523052/

I was born deaf, and my mother/sister caught rubella through first or second-trimester stages. I have an aunt who had got two disabilities – deaf and epilepsy when she was under 4 years old, and the result of her disabilities was not a genetic or from birth.

I came across several Deaf families around New Zealand, but I do not have some percentages. Bob and Jane from the previous post – 40th Wedding Anniversary, one Deaf lady I am supporting her came from a large number of Deaf families in Christchurch, and I understand several large Deaf families are living in the South Island through the Deaf lady I am supporting.

There is an exciting history from Martha’s Vineyard, US. The island itself, a full population of Deaf families living in Martha’s Vineyard until 1952. The last surviving lady -Katie West was born there in the late 1800s before she died in 1952. There were several hearing people living there as well, BUT they communicated with their D/deaf family members, staff and friends on the island. The Deaf family came out from ‘The Weald’, Kent and Sussex, the United Kingdom to Martha’s Vineyard as a utopia in the 1600s. This result in a vast population of Deaf families was “recessive pattern” of genetic deafness, circulated through endogamous marriage patterns.^[43]

There is an interesting book called “Everyone here spoke sign language” by Nora Ellen Groce.         I have got this book here, and it is worth reading it for anyone who is a social worker, counsellor, linguist and interest person who want to learn about our Deaf culture and history.

One of the strong arguments about having intermarried to another Deaf member, that provoke many Deaf people around the world, the ideal utopia from Alexander Graham Bell. Bell’s idea was eugenics to his goal of preventing the creation of a deaf race. “His preventative strategies for deaf marriage included removing barriers to communication and interaction with the hearing world.” https://www.verywellhealth.com/alexander-graham-bell-deafness-1046539

If you come across this name – Alexander Graham Bell somewhere before?? Then he was an inventor for the making of the telephone in 1876 by getting a patent. Perhaps you are not aware of his background – his wife – Mabel was deaf, his mother – Eliza was Hard of Hearing and his father – Alexander Melville was a professor of Phonetician to many Deaf children. Alexander Melville was also an orator and the creator of a program called Visible Speech. Alexander Graham was a teacher of the Deaf children before becoming an inventor. There is a further debate from the website – https://rootedinrights.org/alexander-graham-bell-and-the-deaf-community-a-troubled-history/

Feel free to read this article.

Many Deaf people do not agreed with Alexander Graham Bell because Deaf people’s first language is SIGN LANGUAGE, not spoken.