This study aims to present some aspects that characterize the reading and writing conditions of deaf university students, looking into the performance of these deaf students in reading and writing activities. Twenty deaf university students participated in this study. Two tools were used for data collection: a questionnaire with open and closed questions that provided information about daily reading and writing practices that the research subjects engaged in and six texts that were elaborated so as to represent different written genders, which the subjects were asked to read and answer questions related to text content. The results of the analysis showed that each student's reading and writing skills correlates directly to the language practices they engage in their daily lives. In conclusion, within the context of deafness, we must still account for readers and writers that present great difficulty in interpreting and producing written texts, especially in secondary genders. This study highlights the importance of focusing on literacy with a diversity of reading materials throughout the elementary school on through university level.
deafness; literacy and reading; special education
