Social Determinants of Health in Deaf Communities

The social determinants of health among deaf people are similar to those of hearing people in the United States. The built environment, neighborhood cohesiveness, access to health care, education, and affordable housing all shape the health of individual deaf people as they do hearing people. However, in addition to these similarities, deaf people face a unique combination of social and communication barriers which appear to have resulted in health disparities between hearing and deaf people. These barriers often are more pervasive for deaf people than hearing people and have important public health implications for deaf communities. The ultimate goal of this chapter is twofold: 1) to discuss social factors unique to deaf people which might contribute to health disparities between hearing and deaf people; and 2) to suggest programmatic and systematic approaches to help close these health gaps.