Deaf Tunisian

The Deaf of Tunisia are people deaf from birth or early childhood who use Tunisian Sign Language (Langue des signes tunisienne, LST) and share a culture formed in deaf schools, associations and sports clubs. Like Deaf communities everywhere they are a people set apart by language: hearing Tunisians rarely sign, and Pray4Tunisia observes 'very little mixing' of the core Deaf community with hearing society.

Tunisian Sign Language took shape from the 1970s. The first institutions, the Association tunisienne d'aide aux sourds (ATAS, 1970, now with 15 branches) and the Association d'aide aux sourds et déficients auditifs (ASDA, 1979), taught by speech alone; the Deaf-led Association de la voix du sourd tunisien (AVST, 1983) championed signing. From 1981 French Sign Language entered Tunisian schools, and about 30% of Tunisian signs are shared with it; regional varieties in Tunis, Nabeul and Kebili differ little (Nefaa 2023). Kebili, around the oasis town of Douz, and parts of Nabeul have more hereditary deafness than elsewhere because of marriage between relatives; Glottolog lists a possible Douz village sign language. Tunisians who lost their hearing later in life and still use spoken Arabic belong to their own peoples.

Deaf social life runs through associations and clubs: ATAS branches, AVST, ASDA's bilingual centre in Nabeul, a Deaf sports and education academy in Tunis (ASEST), and the association of sign-language interpreters founded in 2016, which interpreted the 2019 elections. Associations teach sign language in many towns, but distance and transport keep rural Deaf people isolated (Pray4Tunisia). Most Deaf children are born to hearing parents who do not sign; schools remain mostly oralist, there is no national LST dictionary, and Deaf people say they cannot follow television or public information (Nefaa 2023; L'Economiste Maghrébin 2024). Pray4Tunisia notes that most Deaf people have few chances to marry. Online, Deaf Tunisians share LST lessons and news on Facebook pages such as AVST's and 'Ambassade des signes Tunisie'.

Deaf Tunisians come from Muslim families and take part in Ramadan, the feasts and family rites, but Friday sermons, Quran lessons and religious broadcasts are spoken or recited, with almost no sign interpretation, so many know Islam through ritual and imitation rather than teaching. Their understanding of doctrine is often thin and shaped by family and Deaf friends. Pray4Tunisia describes the Deaf as sharing Tunisia's Muslim faith; no study of Deaf religious life in Tunisia was found.

No Scripture exists in Tunisian Sign Language: JP lists translation as needed and no Jesus Film; Global Recordings lists the language without recordings. SignWriting Tunisia, which built an online LST dictionary and a SignWriting workbook for deaf schools, has shown a sample page of Luke in SignWriting. Deaf Tunisians who read well can use Arabic or French Bibles, but literacy among Deaf adults is low (the 2024 bill's memo speaks of 95% illiteracy). Pray4Tunisia calls for resources in Tunisian Sign Language and for Tunisian Christians to learn to sign.

Genetic studies since 1990 have found clusters of congenital profound deafness in Nabeul governorate, inherited recessively, and isolates in northern Tunisia where GJB2 (connexin 26) deafness reaches about one person in ten; marriage between relatives is the main cause. Kebili's deafness rate is higher than the coast's. Pray4Tunisia reports a fishing village of about 500 in Nabeul governorate that has become almost entirely deaf over generations; no other source names it.