If a campus has students who are deaf or hard of hearing, its Public Safety department needs to become aware of some basic information about deafness in order to serve those students well. Public Safety officers may interact with deaf students in a variety of situations: (1) Reporting a theft; (2) Emergency medical situations; (3) Reporting items lost or found; (4) Parking violations; and (5) Requests for services. This tipsheet provides some basic information about deafness and deaf culture. It is important to know that there is a difference in the degrees of deafness that people may have.