To be a member of a sign language community, the most identifying characteristic is to regularly use the national sign language of the country, e.g. German Sign Language, DGS, in Germany. The individual members can be deaf, hard of hearing, people with a cochlea implant, and hearing people, who work as teachers, interpreters, reverends, social workers, or who are so-called CODAs (hearing Children Of Deaf Adults, who acquired a sign language as their first language).
The Deaf Community represents the core of the Sign Language Community. The members of the Deaf Community share other essential criteria that group them together: mainly shared experiences. Most of the deaf people went to a deaf school together; nearly all of them go to deaf clubs and to associations with national and international events; and most of the deaf people fight together for equality and their human and linguistic rights in a hearing mainstream society. These shared experiences unite deaf people and lead to an established and visible community with a collective history and common experiences, values, traditions and codes.
In Germany, there are currently around 70 deaf schools, mainly in bigger cities with >200.000 habitants (e.g. Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Köln, Essen), but also in middle-size cities with <200.000 habitants (e.g. Würzburg, Halberstadt, Nürtingen). Some of these schools are vocational schools specialized for deaf apprentices. These schools offer a small range of chosen and adapted professions like, for example, tailor, dental technician and carpenter. Many of the deaf children and teenagers are first exposed to structured DGS in these schools and make friends with deaf peers for the first time. During their time in school or after graduation, they attend the deaf club or association to have their own recreational place. In many cases, this is a deaf sport club for football, basketball, tennis, bowling or shooting. Here, deaf people exchange information about politics, health issues, news around the world, they play games or do sports and look for a partner in an environment free of communication barriers. The DGB (German Federal Association of the Deaf) represents around 600 deaf clubs and associations with 30,000 members in total. At the moment, the number of these clubs and their members is decreasing, either because more and more elderly members die, or because the younger generation is not that interested in becoming a member anymore. Younger deaf people exchange and organize themselves via social media channels on smartphones and computers. The deaf clubs in smaller and middle-sized cities are facing the danger of losing their members and eventually closing down. However, there are still other gatherings of (younger) deaf or/and signing people such as the youth camps by the National Deaf Youth Association (Deutsche Gehörlosen-Jugend) and the CODA and KODA (Kids Of Deaf Adults) meetings organized by coda d.a.ch. e.V. (an association in the German-speaking area, i.e. Austria, Germany and Switzerland) and by deaf parents for their hearing and deaf children.