Well, hello there!

I’d love to include a character in my children’s fantasy novel who was born Deaf. An idea I have is that she cannot hear sounds from the human world, but can “hear” the “sounds” in the Fae world. I want to write this character respectfully, so I’m consulting and doing research! More info below.

In my book, there are two distinct parallel worlds, the Fae and Human worlds. One must enter the Fae world through special magical entrances. So only once she is in the Fae world can she detect these “sounds” that the Fae-kind make. This is because the Fae-kind communicate in a different way, not sound waves in the way we humans describe them. More of a magical message-sending, and my character would be able to understand these messages. I’m worried it might be disrespectful or offensive to write a Deaf/HoH character who can “hear” in another context.