Deafness in France is about the experiences, education, and community of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people in France. The history of DHH people in France is long, and as of 2014 there were about 10,000,000 (10 million) hearing impaired people in France (16.1% of the population) of whom about 360,000 (0.6% of the population) had "very serious or total" functional limitations, meaning unable to hear a conversation with multiple people and identifying as deaf or hard of hearing.^[1] While French Sign Language (LSF) is the main signed language in France, American Sign Language (ASL) is also commonly used and studied. French Cued Speech, a mixture of spoken French and LSF, is also not uncommon.^[2]

DHH individuals in France sometimes take steps in early and mid-life to integrate themselves into hearing society. One of the most common steps is the use of cochlear implants, devices affixed to ear structures which transmit sounds to the auditory nerve. This allows certain damages in the flow of hearing to be bypassed.^[3] Many children born in France are screened for deafness within a week of being born, and when deafness is found many doctors immediately call for a cochlear implant for the child. This is actively and significantly controversial, and many parents believe that this is too early to apply the procedure. While France is well-reupted as one of the earliest identifiers of DHH children, many say that these cochlear implantation is undertaken too early, and may alienate DHH children.^[4] Speech therapy, also related to alienation, is also commonplace. In this therapy, DHH people are trained to speak and use their voice. This gives a strong sense of abnormality to many involved,^{[clarification needed]} but it is carried out nevertheless because it eases functioning for many DHH individuals outside DHH communities, and in predominantly non-signing communities.^[4]

Communities and structures exist to prevent DHH individuals from being alienated, and to celebrate them. Small, informal communities of DHH individuals are very common; in these, relatively close-knit circles, cochlear implants, speech therapy, etc. are unnecessary.^[4] Associations also exist to represent needs of and to celebrate DHH individuals. Examples include, performances and classes at the IVT theater; the political advocacy of FNSF for DHH people; and the bi-yearly Festival Clin d'Oeil. This festival is a celebration of arts, parties, movies, and conversation, entirely signed and geared toward DHH individuals.^[5] These structures help form community around deafness, and there are many who shy away from the societally-enforced conformist practices in favor of this independent community and its various subsets across the DHH spectrum.

French law since 1989 standardizes^{[clarification needed]} the education of student in a second language during primary school but unlike other countries, prohibits DHH students' primary or secondary language from being a sign language. This presents major obstacles. ^{[clarification needed]} A 2005 law geared as an equal rights policy additionally integrated DHH students into mainstream school, removing much support they previously had. As a result many DHH students go to schools with staff not trained or funded to effectively teach them. These students tend to fall behind. 99.6% DHH students take English as their first foreign language; the majority who take a 2nd foreign language choose French Sign Language, the earliest time they can take their native language. DHH students therefore must generally take two foreign language courses before their native LSF. Many withdraw from their 2nd languages and put themselves behind academically in order to master French; this strategy was popularized by a 2003 study by Ivani Fuselier‐Souza. Some schools teach French cued speech, or "signed French" -- a mixture of LSF and spoken French -- to mixed classes of hearing and DFF students, but the use of this technique is limited, as described, by low levels of training and/or funding^[2]

While some schools are geared toward DHH students specifically, not all DHH children have access to them, so many language-deficient DHH individuals go through their education without the tools to succeed. One 2020 study on spelling errors made by DHH French students showed that while the number of spelling errors did not vary much, the severity of each spelling error ran much deeper due to more fundamental misunderstandings of the language, and as a result was significantly harder to read or understand.^[6]

In 1755, a French priest by the name of Abbe Charles-Michel de L'Épée opened a school for the deaf upon his own funding. This school produced LSF, which is generally considered the first completed sign language directly traceable to a modern sign language.^[7]

Around this time, with the advent of sign-language, the caretakers of DHH people shifted from being primarily educators toward being doctors. Due to new forms of communication, many diseases and injuries became much quicker and easier to diagnose.^[8] The amount of care DFF people receive, between doctors and educators, is now more even. However issues with the rate of identification of deadly diseases and infections, particularly cancer, for DFF people; in that case the average stage of identification is roughly a full stage later than normal identifications.^[9]

A particularly tense time in deaf history was during World War II, during which many deaf people were killed as a way of culling the population under Nazi orders. France was one of the places that these cruel practices made their way to and, while no specific numbers are historically available, the effect felt was not insignificant.^[10]

There were also conflicts in France itself, where many deaf people who applied to work in factories to aid the war effort, but were turned away for unlawful reasons. In the wake of this, letters were written and published in popular newspapers like the Gazette,^[which?] and policies that made it illegal to turn away deaf workers were put into place, but the policies only affected French males who were deaf due to other policies in place.^[10]

In 1942, the French prime minister Pierre Laval Germany of prisoner to worker exchange.^{[clarification needed]} For every three French workers that he sent to Germany, a prisoner of war would be freed and released back to France. Primarily deaf workers were sent, however, and many ended up becoming prisoners of war themselves, mainly those who could not learn quickly to interpret spoken German, which were the majority.^[10]

Perhaps as a result of the active ways that DHH individuals made themselves prevalent and heard in wartime France, more deaf characters began to appear in French media, ultimately leading to a flourishing of deaf arts, as well as the fight for individuality.^[10]

The FNSF (Fédération Nationale des Sourds de France, National Federation of Deafness in France) is a federation involved in 89 different organizations, comprising a wide array of topics in which the stances of the DHH community are underrepresented. This federation tries to make the rights and views of DHH individuals in France more considered and even helps oversee some legal processes. This federation is involved in meetings with the Ministries of National Education and Social Affairs, the National Consultative Committee for People with Disabilities, the High Authority of Health, the National Institute of Prevention for Education and Health, the National Monuments Center, and the Superior Audiovisual Council, to name a few. The predominant values of the federation are culture, unity, participation, self-representation, consistency, patrimony, and solidarity. These are the values that are upheld in its decisions. They are also the values placed in the center of education in the camps that it hosts across Europe to facilitate the education of LSF in underprivileged DHH children.^[11] It is a member of the European Union of the Deaf and the World Federation of the Deaf.

IVT (International Visual Theater) is based in Paris, where they have been stationed since 1981. The operation is run by Emmanuelle Laborit and Jennifer Lesage-David, who use the theater as an educational and community-building center for individuals in the DHH community. Many attend the theater to take classes, participate in performances, and be in a setting where LSF is the standard. Dozens of shows are run each year, and hundreds of individuals attend classes across the same course of time. Classes regarding language, culture, various arts and more are held within the building, but also online, as the theater contributes as broadly as it can to the educational facilitation of DHH people in France.^[12]

DEAFI, founded in 2009, is a French communication organization that helps the deaf community by improving communication. To make education and communication broader, the company specializes in communication and connections and is known for the webcams that aid in the remote use of LSF. The company assists in online communication, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak. Still, its overall goal is to give its clients the tools to move away from it and achieve independence. The company specializes further in connecting its clients with specialized education and job opportunities, as such things can better facilitate independence for the future.^[13]