What are the statistics of Deaf population?
Statistics have been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In 1993 there were 93,600 people in WA with some form of hearing loss and 1,200 people use Auslan in WA as their main mode of communication. In the 2001 Census, people were asked the language used at home. There was no option to identify Auslan users and most people marked English. The majority of Deaf and hard of hearing people communicate with their families in English and communicate with their friends and some family members using Auslan. 90% of Deaf babies with hearing loss are born to hearing families, so therefore this is a significant number that impacts on the statistics. Contact the Australian Bureau of Statistics for updated information.
