While the statistics for Kenya have not yet been determined, the idea of the deaf community as being "one generation thick" generally seems to hold true. What does this mean? It means that members of the deaf community often do not share the same language, culture, and norms as their parents (the previous generation) or their children (the next generation).

Why is that? The vast majority of deaf children have normally hearing parents. The vast majority of deaf people give birth to hearing children.

In Western countries (Europe and America), statistics have generally shown the following:

• 90 percent of deaf children have normally hearing parents.
• 90 percent of deaf adults marry other deaf persons.
• 90 percent of children born to deaf couples have normal hearing.

Hearing Parents 

This means that most deaf children grow up with hearing parents who often don't understand what it means to be deaf. Communication is almost always limited. Frustration and miscommunication is even more common. The statistics for Kenya are thought to be similar. 

Deaf Spouses 

Nine out of ten deaf adults, in the western world, tend to marry other deaf persons. This is usually linked to communication and cultural similarities. Deaf people want to be with other deaf people who can better understand them and share their culture and norms.

It's not clear what the figures are for Kenyan deaf marriages, though circumstantial evidence would suggest that the number is significantly smaller. This may be due to technological, social, cultural, geographic, educational or economic factors.

Hearing Children 

Finally, 90 percent of children born to deaf couples will be hearing. Considering that deafness is most often not genetic, this figure in Kenya would probably be almost the same. Yet awareness of these facts is not evenly distributed or widely understood. It is not uncommon to meet a Kenya deaf person who says they would prefer to marry a hearing person because they are afraid their child will also be deaf.

References:

Davis, Lennard J. "Deafness and the Riddle of Identity," The Chronicle Review, Volume 53, Issue 19, Page B6, January 12, 2007.

Schein, Jerome D. and Silvia Golocovsky. "Special Education, Rehabilitation, and the Deaf Community," la educación, Vol. 120, 1995: 1. Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development: Washington D.C.