What is the difference between a person who is “deaf” or “hard of hearing”?

• A deaf person is any person who has any degree of hearing loss in either or both ears, regardless of preferred communication mode.
• A Deaf person is any person with hearing loss who prefers to use sign language to communicate and are a part of the Deaf community.
• A Hard-of-hearing person is any person with hearing loss that is usually acquired post-lingually and prefers to use speech for communication.

These are the terms that deaf people identify by as these terms show respect and accord dignity to deaf people.