I.

INTRODUCTION
In this word document, I will have the general definition of deafness, the life of a deaf or hearingimpaired person covered. The scope of my research about the social life of such people limits to relationships, leisure and business. [1]

II. DEAFNESS
Deafness is the complete loss of the ability to hear from one or both ears. Deafness may be inherited, or caused by complications at birth, certain infectious diseases, such as meningitis, use of ototoxic drugs, and exposure to excessive noise. Around half of all deafness and hearing impairment can be prevented. [2]

III. THE LIFE OF THE DEAF A. RELATIONSHIPS -- Although most deaf people marry other deaf people, many have
relationships with hearing people. Those relationships, which may have begun before the deaf partner lost hearing, often become preoccupied with issues such as sign language (SL) communication. [3]

B. ENTERTAINMENT & LEISURE (1) Deaf Cinema: What is deaf cinema? Deaf
cinema is films made by and about deaf people and deafness, that often has deaf themes such as hearing and deaf getting along, the inability to hear, deaf history, curing deafness, and sign language. (2) Deaf Theatre: Deaf Theatre has been around for generations, and serves a dual purpose: deaf culture entertainment for deaf audiences, and education about deafness and sign language for hearing people. When deaf theatre began, it was deaf people performing for deaf audiences; today it is deaf and hearing together.

C. CAREER & BUSINESS Some deaf people, frustrated by the job search, decide to
launch their own businesses. Other deaf people simply desire to become business owners. These deaf and hard of hearing people can turn to other deaf and hard of hearing people for support and guidance as they begin their own entrepreneurship efforts. Businesses owned by deaf and hard of hearing people are also an important source of employment and work experience for other deaf and hard of hearing people. IV. THE LANGUAGE OF THE DEAF Sign language, in one way or another, benefits the deaf or hard on hearing people. In usual cases, deaf people can be considered mute people too. Because they are deprived of the hearing ability, chances are these people will come hurdling to learn in terms to be audible, or simply to speak. A reason why, sign language has been engineered to come as the primary means of communication of the deaf and mute. In this language, signals are made through hand gestures which create words and letters.

Cited sources:

1. http://deafness.about.com/; http://www.who.int/topics/deafness/en/ 2. http://www.who.int/topics/deafness/en/ 3. http://deafness.about.com/od/relationships/a/deafhearing.htm 4. http://deafness.about.com/cs/deafentertainment/a/deafcinema.htm [1]; http://deafness.about.com/od/deafculture/a/deaftheatre.htm [2] 5. http://deafness.about.com/cs/deafhohproducts/a/deafhohbusiness.htm