Children of Deaf Adults

The hearing children of Deaf parents grow up in two cultures with two languages. They are similar to other bilingual, bicultural children in many ways but are special also. They can be in conflict between two worlds and often carry an extra burden of responsibility in functioning as a bridge between the two. As long as the child is given enough exposure to both the spoken and the signed languages, both will be learned well. Since Deaf parents will most often have hearing children, it is important for them to understand the position of Kodas. Stakeholder organizations define a Koda as the hearing child of Deaf adults who are signing (kid of Deaf adults). The term Coda is usually applied to an adult child of Deaf adults.

As an example, consider Rachel, who is 6 years old and hearing. Her parents are both Deaf and use American Sign Language (ASL). One set of grandparents is Deaf, and one set hearing. Her only older brother is hearing too. She has grown up signing ASL but also speaking English, and she is a typical example of a Koda. A large group of hearing children of deaf adults do not grow up with a sign language. We know that 90–95% of children born to deaf parents are hearing, but it is not known how many children are in fact Kodas. Since the World Federation of the Deaf represents about 70 million deaf people, the number of hearing children in deaf families must in fact be staggering.

In this entry we report on signing K/Codas. Although there are many testimonials from Codas about their cultural and linguistic experiences while growing up in their Deaf families, there is comparatively little research on this group.

Rachel has been learning two languages from birth and is also growing up in two cultures, that is, in the American hearing culture and that of the ASL-using Deaf community. Codas report on the different mindsets and mannerisms that they can identify as being special for the Deaf community. All children of signing Deaf adults are the carriers of Deaf culture, although they are likely themselves to have hearing children and thus commonly form a one-generation cohort.

There is huge variation in the extent to which an individual is active in transmitting this culture. Some Codas show immense pride in their heritage. Sander, for example, in the Netherlands talks about his being active in two cultures and considering Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) as his second mother tongue. Others may reject their Deaf cultural heritage to some extent, in that they would never reveal to others that their parents are Deaf, for example. Deaf parents may also even be negative about their hearing child’s being part of the Deaf community, in an attempt to protect the child from the negative attitudes that may prevail about Deaf people. However positive a Coda may be about the Deaf community, having no direct experience of being deaf is often mentioned as a barrier to full membership—by both Codas and the Deaf.

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