DEAF IDENTITY

Raising deaf awareness through clothing and accessories.

DEAF IDENTITY was created in September 2019 by a deaf person whose aim was to mix their love of fashion with raising deaf awareness.

Growing up, they never had a deaf role model or a deaf group to identify with and they always felt that their deafness was up for debate.

‘Well you wear hearing aids so you’re deaf’. / ‘Well you don’t look deaf’. / ‘If you can’t sign then you’re not really deaf’. / ‘Turn your hearing aids up, I’m not repeating myself again’. / ‘You’re not that deaf because you can speak to me and have good speech’. / ‘Ugh, never mind it doesn’t matter’.

They want to show that deafness has a wide spectrum whether it be through Sign Language (BSL, SSE and ISL) communicating orally, or being known as ‘CODA’ (Children of deaf adults.)

They want to make it emphatically clear that there is no right or wrong way of being deaf, and that we will no longer be dismissed or told ‘never mind, it doesn’t matter.’

It’s time deafness got recognised, spoken about and heard.