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Differend is, in Jean François Lyotard's construction, the failure of language. In the context of the holocaust - Lyotard's main interest in the book titled Differend - this moment is pervasive, characterized by a constant need to say "I do not have the words" or similarly saying that "There is no way to describe what I have witnessed." The differend is that moment in language when words fail. The deafened moment, then, is an example of a specific differend - the moment in deaf/hearing interaction when one does not have the words, when a deaf student cannot make her or his needs clear in such a way that they are comprehended by hearing educators, nor are educators able to fully communicate the limits and timeline of the institution. Although the gap is rarely traversed, and the differend is rarely overcome, dialogue between the parties may begin to mitigate the problems of the gap. While the gap remains, continued interaction provides an opportunity not to overcome the differend, but to defer its effects.

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