Reading to Keep Up in the Deaf/HOH Community

Like any community the deaf and hard of hearing community has (and had) its own publications. There are both independent publications and publications put out by various organizations of the deaf and hard of hearing.

Newspapers
Not too long after the death of the Silent News, a new deaf newspaper began: SIGNews.

Magazines

Deaf Life magazine was published from 1988 until 1998, then went on hiatus for several years. It returned in January 2007 with a cover story on the Gallaudet Protest of fall 2006.

Kids and teens had and have their own publications. First, there is the venerable World Around You. Plus, students around the world can enjoy Deaf Friends International, an online magazine with stories and art published in multiple languages. Deaf Friends International publishes both a senior edition with stories from adults, and a junior edition with stories from teens.

Gallaudet University publishes Gallaudet Today, a magazine that not only focuses on Gallaudet alumni but also carries stories about the deaf community.

Deaf Studies

For the deaf studies community, there is American Annals of the Deaf, which has been around since before the Civil War ended, and the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, a scholarly journal with a mix of articles on deaf culture and academically-focused interests.

Sign Language
A publication that is focused on sign language but also carries deaf culture articles, is Sign Language Studies from Gallaudet University Press. SLS carries articles on sign language internationally, as well as deaf culture articles.

The main newspaper of the deaf press, covering national and international news was Silent News. Even though the Silent News was well-known, many people had shared their copies, meaning that relatively few actually subscribed! This made it difficult for the Silent News and other deaf newspapers, to survive. In addition, because online news services have taken over the task of disseminating daily and weekly news, the Silent News in later years shifted from a current news focus to more of a feature focus, with more staff-written articles. The Silent News ceased publication in the early 2000s.

The second short-lived newspaper, Newswaves, had temporarily suspended publication but resumed in January 2002 before suspending publication again. In the late '90s, there was another short-lived deaf newspaper, DeafNation.