Global Baby Bedtimes

Approximately 466 million people or five percent of the world's population has disabling hearing loss (term defined and used by the World Health Organisation); 34 million of these are children. Despite approximately one third of people over 65 years of age being affected by disabling hearing loss Deaf adult characters are significantly underrepresented in children's books; even within books which do include a Deaf character. There have been several studies into how Deaf children are portrayed in children's literature. Historically children's books have generally conformed to an outdated cultural view of Deaf people, which resulted in books which portray those characters who happen to be Deaf as in need of saving or to be pitied. In more recent times society has improved attitudes towards deaf people and this has led in part to better representation in literature. This article highlights some of the books which reflect the diversity found within the deaf community.