Objective. Culturally sensitive measures are important for accurately assessing cognitive functioning and rate of decline. Currently, most measures used to assess dementia have a strong English linguistic and cultural component, which may impact test results and lead to misdiagnosis in individuals for whom English is not their primary language. As the elderly population and incidence of dementia continues to rise, there is an inherent need to validate a measure and develop cultural norms for the deaf population. Therefore, the current study investigated the use of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS-2) in culturally Deaf senior citizens. Method. 54 prelingually deaf senior citizens were given the Reading Comprehension subtest from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, Revised (PIAT-R), the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, Second Edition (DRS 2), and Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE). Hypotheses included whether the DRS, MMSE, and PIAT-R would correlate. Results. Significant correlations were found between the DRS and MMSE (r = .771, p < .001), which supported previous research findings. The DRS total score and the PIAT (r = .758, p < .001) were also significantly correlated. Several subtests from the DRS were correlated with the PIAT including Attention (r = .633, p < .001), Initiation/Perseveration (r = .568, p < .001), Conceptualization (r = .713, p < .001) and Memory (r = .613, p < .001). A deaf college student sample (Dean, 2006) scored significantly higher on the DRS than the deaf elderly sample (Mann Whitney U (Z) (25, 54) = -4.919, p < .001) and scores indicated average performance on DRS total score was in the Moderately Impaired Range (M = 5,77, SD = 3.28). Chronbachs alpha indicated an overall weak level of internal consistency (alpha = .2745) questioning whether the DRS was measuring the intended cognitive domains. ANOVA and Bonferoni post-hoc analysis revealed significant differences between DRS total score and levels of education. Conclusion. Level of education, reading comprehension and cultural factors have significant impacts on culturally Deaf individuals' performance on the DRS. These results will provide useful information to medical and psychological professions evaluating cognitive functioning in the deaf elderly population.