In the last three chapters we have considered the young people in the public worlds of school, college, work and the general public domain. We now move back into a more private sphere, that of friendships and personal relationships, and look at the social life of the young people. As we look at this topic, a complex picture emerges. Firstly, it is clear that some of the young deaf people enjoyed a rich and varied social life, often involving them in travel all over the country. On the other hand, it emerged that some were extremely lonely at times, felt isolated and had difficulty in making friends and sustaining friendships.

Table 6.1 sets out the friendship pattern of the young people as described by the parents and the young people, combining information obtained from a number of questions in each interview. The use of the category ‘no friends’ was very strictly applied and only used in the absence of evidence of any social contacts at all.