How many people speak American Sign Language?

It's difficult to give an exact number of American Sign Language (ASL) speakers. Here's why:

* No official census: There's no official census or survey that specifically counts ASL speakers.

* Varying definitions: What constitutes an "ASL speaker" can be interpreted differently. Is it someone who is fluent? Deaf or hard of hearing? Uses ASL in specific settings?

* Language diversity: ASL is a visual language with regional variations and dialects, making it challenging to standardize a count.

Estimates:

* The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) estimates that approximately 500,000 people in the US use ASL as their primary language. This is based on the number of people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

* Other estimates range from 250,000 to over 1 million, depending on the criteria used.

It's important to remember that these are just estimates, and the actual number of ASL speakers is likely higher due to the reasons listed above.