Deaf Saudi Arabian

Saudi Arabia's Deaf community is the people who use Saudi Arabian Sign Language (SSL) and take part in Deaf life: Deaf schools, clubs, associations and gatherings. SSL took shape among pupils of the first two Deaf schools, opened in Riyadh in 1964, one for boys and one for girls, with influence from British and American Sign Language and from teachers from Jordan and Egypt; it is not mutually intelligible with other Arab sign languages, and boys' and girls' schools still differ in vocabulary. Deaf Saudis built their own reference works: a first handbook (1993), the Saudi Arabia Sign Language Dictionary compiled with 60 Deaf participants (2013), and the Saudi Association for Hearing Impairment's dictionary of thousands of signs in 28 fields, including religion (2018). Many Deaf rejected the pan-Arab 'unified' sign dictionary because they could not understand it. About 100,000 people use SSL. Saudis who lose their hearing later in life and keep using spoken Arabic belong to their own peoples, not to this community.

Deaf social life centres on Deaf schools and their alumni, Deaf clubs (including a Deaf women's club in Jeddah), and regional associations such as the association for the Deaf, hard of hearing and their families in the Eastern Province. SSL has its own humour and poetry, and older Deaf signers pass on the community's history; younger signers are shaped by social media and video calls. Deaf people often marry other Deaf people, and consanguineous marriage makes inherited deafness common in some families. Since 2012 universities have admitted Deaf students (32 graduated from King Saud University by 2017), and SSL is now taught to hearing pupils in a few schools and as an elective at Prince Sattam University.

Deaf Saudis are Muslims like their families, mostly Sunni, with Shia Deaf in the Eastern Province and Najran. Much Deaf schooling was oral, so religious teaching in a language Deaf pupils fully understand has been limited. Sign interpretation is offered at the Two Holy Mosques for Deaf pilgrims and on state television news, and the 2018 Saudi sign dictionary includes religious vocabulary. No study describes how Deaf Saudis practise or understand their faith.

No Scripture, JESUS Film or other Christian media in Saudi Arabian Sign Language were found; JP lists translation as started. Written Arabic Scripture is hard for many Deaf readers, and other Arab sign languages are not understood. Saudi law bans evangelism of citizens, and no outreach to Saudi Deaf is known.