hi JamieLynn, this is Mandy again. Yes of course person can be deaf from birth, many reasons, often exposure of the mother to German Measles while child in womb is at vulnerable stage of development - this is what happened to nephew of my ex-boyfriend.
If your character was born unable to hear( profound and pre-lingual, google it) and was raised in the Oral tradition, s/he could learn to produce sounds but would lack understanding of spoken/written language.
Less than 10% of deaf children in South Africa are born to deaf parents, and most hearing parents never learn to sign - therefore they can't help their children with school work, social issues, emotional issues etc.
