09/01/2026
Happy Deaf Awareness Month. Four myths about Deaf travel that are worth seeing.
"Sign language is universal." There are more than 200 national sign languages, and only 40% of them are legally recognised. Someone who signs in one country may not be understood in the next, which is why an interpreter booked at home does not automatically travel with you.
"They can read my lips." Only 30 to 40% of speech is visible on the lips, and that is under good conditions: front lighting, a clear view, no mask, no beard, no one talking over their shoulder. On a moving tour bus it is close to nothing.
"I will just write it down." Sometimes that works. But sign languages have their own grammar and are not a written version of the spoken language around them, so for many signers the local written language is a second language rather than a shortcut.
"Hearing impaired is the polite term." The World Federation of the Deaf and the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People agreed years ago that this term should not be used. It is deaf, or hard of hearing.
None of this is hard to find out. It is just rarely asked, which is why it is missing from most of the information travelers get before they book a hotel or a tour.
Which of these have you run into? Tell us in the comments.
