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1. Form SSDA 910 relates to the 'Registers of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons' maintained by Councils with Social Services Responsibilities (CSSRs) under Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948. The form seeks information on the numbers of persons on each register at the end of the year by age group. Although there are no formal examination procedures for determining whether a person is deaf or hard of hearing, some guidance notes are featured on the form itself - a copy of which is at Annex A. It is intended that people who are deaf or hard of hearing and also blind and recorded on the Register of the Blind should be excluded from this particular return.

2. Under Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 local authorities are required to compile and maintain classified registers of 'persons who are blind, deaf or dumb and other persons who are substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury, or congenital deformity'. Local Authority Circular (93)10 provided further guidance to local authorities on registration practice and the collection of statistics for each of the following groups:

3. Information on the numbers of people (other than mentally handicapped persons) who fall within the scope of section 29 of the Act of 1948 and are recorded on these LA registers is collected using 2 separate statistical returns:

SSDA 902 Registration of blind persons and partially sighted persons
SSDA 910 Registers of people who are deaf or hard of hearing 

4. Statistics on registered disabled persons are collected from CSSRs in England on a three year rolling cycle. Information for blind and partially sighted people was last collected for the year to 31 March 2000 and published as 'Registered Blind and Partially sighted People, Year ending 31 March 2000, England' - reference A/F 2000/7.

5. Information on general classes of disability was last collected for the year to 31 March 1993. A decision was made not to collect any further information on the general classes because of concerns about accuracy and reliability of the data.