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DEAFSA:
Hearing Loss

• Hearing Loss
• The Structure of DEAFSA
• Early Intervention
• Sign Language and Interpreter Service
• Provincial and Human Development
• Deaf Education

DEAFSA, formerly known as the South African National Council for the Deaf, was founded in 1929 and is the coordinating, umbrella organization, which facilitates services to the South African Deaf and hard of hearing communities. DEAFSA currently has 67 affiliates throughout South Africa.

DEAFSA's constitution and activities are aimed at all people who are affected by hearing loss.

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A. Hearing loss:
Hearing loss is generally the impairment of the sense of hearing to the extent that it interferes with communication and affects the social, emotional, educational and vocational aspects of an individual's life.

1. Hard of hearing:

This term refers to a person with a minimum to moderate hearing loss whose primary mode of communication is the spoken language and who could in most circumstances benefit from the use of a hearing aid.

2. Deaf:

Deaf people can be divided into two sub-groups depending on the time the hearing loss set in:

2.a. Pre-lingual/congenital Deafness

This refers to a person who was born deaf or became Deaf before the acquisition of the language of the immediate family. Such a person has a moderate-severe to profound hearing loss, belongs to the Deaf culture and uses Sign Language as the prime mode of communication.

2.b. Post-lingual/deafened:

This refers to a person who acquired moderately severe to profound hearing loss after the acquisition of a spoken language and who is dependent on the visual sense for additional information for the purposes of spoken communication.