Where Are You From? Why Deaf accents exist and why they deserve your respect
- Elisa Nuevo Vallín
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
If you have ever asked a Deaf person “Where are you from?” and then looked confused when they said “Brighton” or “Swansea”... congratulations. You have met the Deaf accent.
And if you have ever been that Deaf person, you’ve probably had to stop yourself from saying, “I’m from… my house. Where are YOU from?”
Let’s talk about it.
Let’s laugh about it.
And let’s finally explain it so clearly that no Deaf person ever has to give a ten minute TED Talk in the Tesco queue again.
So, what is a Deaf accent?
Short answer.
It is what speech sounds like when you grow up speaking with your eyes, your hands, your body and only partial or distorted sound.
Long answer.
Hearing people use something called the auditory feedback loop. When they speak, they constantly adjust based on what they hear.
Deaf people do not have that same loop. So speech develops through:
touch
vibration
visual cues
repetition
speech therapy
guessing
hope
vibes
And that creates an accent that is not foreign.
Not wrong. Not a mistake. Just Deaf.
Why do people mistake it for a foreign accent?
Because your brain is trained to categorise sound into the accents you already know.
When you hear something unfamiliar, your brain panics and throws out wild guesses.
This is why so many Deaf people get:
“You sound French.”
“You sound Eastern European.”
“You sound South American.”
“You sound… interesting.”
Meanwhile the Deaf person is standing there like: “I sound like someone who learnt speech using sight and vibrations while my classmates were learning the times tables. That is where I am from.”
If you ask Deaf adults about their deaf accent, you will often hear stories that are half hilarious and half heartbreaking.
People hung up on them because their voice was “weird.”
People assumed they were foreign in their own country.
People asked where their “lisp” came from.
People laughed.
People stared.
The accent carries all of that. It also carries resilience.
When a Deaf person speaks, you hear the story of their education, their barriers, and their victories. Their accent is living evidence that they worked ten times harder than anyone realises.
Is a Deaf accent a problem?
Only when people are rude about it.
A Deaf accent is not a flaw.
It is not a reason to underestimate someone.
It is not a reason to giggle or question their intelligence.
Speech is not a measure of worth.
Not for Deaf people.
Not for anyone.
The problem has never been the accent. The problem is how society reacts to it.
Let’s clear up a few common questions
“Why do Deaf people speak like that?”
Because they speak with the hearing they have. You speak with the hearing you have. Same concept. Different input.
“Why don’t they speak clearly?”
Why don’t you sign clearer? Silence.
“Why don’t they just sign?”
Some Deaf people do both. Some prefer speech. Some use lipreading. Communication is personal. Not public property.
“Where is that accent from?”
From lived experience. From growing up Deaf in a hearing world. From strength you will never fully see.
The Deaf accent is a culture, and it deserves the same respect as any regional dialect.
When you laugh at it, mock it, imitate it, or ask invasive questions, you are not just commenting on speech. You are commenting on identity.
But here is the good news.
Once people understand Deaf accents, something beautiful happens.
They stop making deaf people feel foreign in their own country.
They stop assuming things.
They stop being rude without realising.
They start listening with empathy instead of judgment.
And communication becomes a lot easier for everyone :)
Awareness is not hard. It just takes a moment.
So next time you hear a Deaf accent…
Do not ask where they’re “really” from.
Do not assume they cannot speak well.
Do not laugh.
Just listen with respect.
And maybe take the time to learn a bit of sign language. Trust us, you will make a Deaf person’s whole week.