While deaf children with deaf parents may be thought to be more disadvantaged than other deaf children, research from Western countries suggests this is not the case. Deaf children of deaf parents tend to do better at school and are more socially comfortable than deaf children of hearing parents. The link has not been clearly proved, but the use of sign language and the sharing of culture between deaf parents and deaf children are often thought to be the major reason.

Deaf children with hearing parents often lack access to regular and fluent language that they can understand. This is thought to affect their intellectual development. These children are more likely to be treated as additional burdens and abnormal, whereas deaf children with deaf parents will usually be more easily accepted for who they are.

It is thought in western countries that 10 percent of deaf parents will have deaf children. (It is not clear what the relevant percentage is for Kenya.)