I-MAG STS
2012
The current estimates are only estimates
but a low figure for the United States ALONE is 11,000,000. And that
does NOT count
people with expressive language disabilities where
it is usually very difficult to determine if they have receptive
language abilities. This population includes children with most types
of autism, cerebral palsy and virtually all trisomies; young adults
with ALS, MS and traumatic brain injuries; as well as many people with
strokes and dementias such as Alzheimers.
Statistically, the United
States is not typical of most of Planet Earth in that there are few
genetic clusters; debilitating diseases are rare and health care is
better. Working with the esteemed linguists and statisticians at the
Summer Institute of Linguistics famed for 75 years of work at the
ethnologue website, our tabulations by country suggest a world deaf
tally of nearly 105 million and a planetary population of almost 400
million who cannot communicate using sound.