Hi-

I’m profoundly deaf, and my primary language is American Sign Language. I can read/write english, but cannot verbally speak it (for obvious reasons). I read some lips.

My girlfriend is a citizen of Spain. She has a green card and has been living here in America for a long time. We’ve been together for over two years. She is not deaf.

She wants to move back to Spain. I don’t mind moving to Spain, but there is a cause for concern. What would life in Spain be like for someone who is deaf? What kind of resources are there that the deaf/disabled can make use of? What about the deaf community? Are there schools for the deaf?

Hey Don,

I can’t tell you too much about this, but sordo is the Spanish word for deaf, so, with a dictionary, you might find something with Google about specifics like schools and such.

I met a couple deaf guys last year when my mother came to visit me in Barcelona; she used to be an Interpreter for the Deaf. They seemed nice, although we ran into them later downtown where they were doing the ol’ hand card out with alphabet and explanation that I’m deaf and ask for money thing and a cafe, to which my mom was VERY unimpressed and gave them a piece of her mind. They said they were poor and had to do this to make a little money on the side. They had part time jobs that didn’t pay well.

Regarding other disabilities, there have been a number of folks coming to our Spain Forum here and asking about care for their disabled loved one. You might post a reply to some of their posts to see if they’ve gone and done the move yet and how they find Spain now. In general Spain is a first world nation, and that means providing at least basic resources for the deaf/disabled community (schools, bio-medical, etc). One thing I noted (upon arrival in 2004) in particular is that Barcelona was very very wheelchair friendly compared to every other European city I’d been to. Madrid, if I remember correctly, is pretty accessible too.

I realize that you’re deaf, not in a wheelchair or anything, but since a society’s attitudes tend to run in tandem between the two disabilities towards one common policy, I thought it might be helpful to point out what I’ve noted so far about Spanish policy in this regard.

Hope it helps. Let me know if you have any other questions, although I might not be able to answer succinctly!