deaf people aren't a monolith
this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2025
51 points (94.7% liked)
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Uh, it's spelled "monorail", and of coarse not! They aren't transformers!
That would be ridiculous… They probably meant to type “mammoth” which is like a large furry elephant that use to be hunted by primitive man.
no actually I think they meant to say monotheistic
Magnetic monopoles.
I can hear this image
Du you, by chance, hear it in a deaf accent?
Where'd you get that picture of me
wow there really are some fucking stupid questions huh
tbf it was a comment - not a question.
Well we won't hold that against them.
Not with that attitude.
But if they all grouped up and stood on each other's shoulders, they have a chance.
They may not know how their own voice sounds, but they are definitely aware that Deaf people are often perceived as sounding odd. Some Deaf people put a lot of practice into learning how to speak, sometimes even with the help of a vocal coach. Others may choose not to even try because of it.
I was wondering if deaf people had accents. Last time I asked on reddit and was called an idiot because British sign language and American sign language is different.
Like, not really what I was asking, but they were insistent that I was ablist or something.
Deaf people will almost unavoidably copy the mouth shapes they've seen when other people have spoken. This means that how they sound will be at least somewhat informed by any hearing people they observe as well as indirectly through other deaf people who have also learned from hearing folks.
So yes, aspects of voice accent do carry over to deaf people.
There's also the concept of "accent" within sign language too. How people move between signs, carry themselves and act when expressing an emotion, which is usually exaggerated for the sake of clear communication, can vary from community to community, even if the base sign language is the same.
Reddit is bad
OP didn't ask about signing, but speaking.
Speaking and talking are colloquially used to describe people communicating in sign language. "I speak ASL", "I talk ASL", etc.
Definitions of the words speak and talk cover non-verbal communication.
Speak: to express feelings by other than verbal means
Talk: to express or exchange ideas by means of spoken words or sign language
That said, I agree that OP was likely asking about spoken word.
And neither was this OP.
They also have accents while signing, there are regional differences in sign language just like spoken language.
My brother is deaf. He most definitely knows he sounds different. He doesn't use ASL with me. He uses it with my sister since she is fluent. We have had our own "family slang".
My friend's parents are deaf. She has a tendency to start signing when she dances.
The ones I know who are totally deaf, and have been all their life, their speaking is not quite clear (if you mean that by 'accent'), and they know it well.
I would say that any deaf-from-birth person who ever regularly interacted with hearing people would know they sound a certain way
Yes, because they can communicate with people ;-)
I mean, I know I have an accent.
Unless they've managed their entire life to avoid any person or piece of media cluing them in that (some) deaf people have a distinctive accent, then the answer to that would pretty obviously be yes.