The following countries have been included in South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. These countries, at one time or another, were controlled by the British—directly or indirectly. However, except for Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, the history under various headings in these countries is very different. These three countries formed one nation—India—until 1947. Bangladesh and Pakistan were one country until 1971.

Because very little information is available on deaf people in general and history of deafness-related topics specifically, the content is organized by topic—education, for example—rather than by country. Since there is more information available for some countries and little or none for others, the historical documentation of this region is not comprehensive.

Each nation has a national-level organization leading the Deaf ...