A person who identifies as being deaf with a lowercase d is indicating that they have a significant hearing impairment. Many deaf people lose their hearing later in life and may be able to speak and / or read English to the same extent as a hearing person. A person who identifies as being Deaf with an uppercase D is indicating that they are culturally Deaf and belong to the Deaf community. Most Deaf people are sign language users and they may have a limited ability to read, write or speak English.
