Several members of the committee have hearing disabilities.

[hirashin]

Hello, native English speakers,
does the sentence sound natural?
Several members of the committee have hearing disabilities.
Or should I say
Several members of the committee have a hearing disability.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

 

[mdchachi]

Both are fine but I would probably use the first one.

 

[hirashin]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Buntaro]

Deleted. Let me think about it.

 

[hirashin]

Deleted. Let me think about it.

Sorry. I don't understand. What's deleted?

 

[Buntaro]

Sorry. I don't understand. What's deleted?

Hirashin, I answered your question but then I decided my answer was wrong, so I deleted it.

 

[hirashin]

I see.
Do you agree with mdchachi?
Do you think you can use either a singular or plural form of "disability"?

 

[Buntaro]

Both forms can be used. The plural form sounds better. But I am having a hard time explaining why. This is what I am thinking about.

 

[hirashin]

Thanks, Buntaro.

 

[joadbres]

If you want to see a variety of other similar examples, and advice on how to handle such cases, do a web search for "subject-complement agreement".

In this specific case, though, as @mdchachi has pointed out, both sound OK, so you can freely use either one.

English doesn't have a strict rule in such cases, but when in doubt, following subject-complement agreement is a fairly safe choice. In this case, that would result in choosing the first sentence, to match the plural.