A.C.C.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication
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'A Language Minority'
Unlike blind people --who share the English language with those who are blind as well as those who are
not blind-- those who communicate with
American Sign Language are quite literally using a different language, one that is as distinct from English as French. And that distinct language barrier creates a challenge to thousands of single deaf people seeking companionship and love, via online connections. Many deaf people around the country are lonely, and don't have a lot of options available to meet friends that are deaf, particularly if they live outside of major metropolitan areas. Estimates of the size of the deaf community in the United States are between 20 and 25 million people. The number of people fluent in American Sign Language is much smaller, however, fewer than 1 million people nationwide, according to Robert Pollard, director of the
Deaf Wellness Center at the University of Rochester.
The recent explosion of online dating, (about 17 million people at least peeked at a dating site last year, according to estimates) has created a cottage industry of smaller sites hoping to draft off the success of market monster Match.com. By coincidence, Match.com “vice president of romance” Trish McDermott formerly worked as an American Sign Language interpreter, making her well-versed in the issues surrounding deaf culture. She said her site does all it can to be inclusive. While there is no selection criteria where users can identify themselves as deaf, members can mention a desire for deaf partners in their personal description. Full-text search was recently added to the service, making it easy to find anyone who mentions “deaf” or “American Sign Language” in their personal ad. McDermott said she had no way to know how many personals had been placed by deaf people on Match.com, but a search of the site yielded thousands of entries. Still, McDermott said, there is certainly a place for the niche sites.
Two small but growing sites devoted to dating for the deaf, now offer non-hearing singles their own place on the Internet to find love.
Currently,
Deafdates.com is free, but has plans to start charging a small membership fee in the future to support additional features and Web hosting costs.
DeafMatchInternational.com is the older of the two sites, but not by much; it launched in 2001. The site has nearly 4,000 members, including about 1,000 who pay $20 a month to be “deluxe” members. Memberships for both sites include the completely deaf, aging singles who are losing their hearing — even sign language interpreters who can hear but are looking for relationships with people immersed in deaf culture.