DEAF ADULTS AS ROLE MODELS FOR THE HEARING WORLD: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Stergiani Giaouri,Anastasia Alevriadou,Marianna Hatzopoulou,Vassilis Kourbetis,Spyridoula Karipi

doi:10.46827/ejse.v8i1.4092

Abstract

Although deaf role model projects have existed for some time and their benefits and outcomes for deaf children/young people and their parents have been recorded, almost no attention has been paid to the experiences of the deaf people who take on these roles. Additionally, the experiences of being a deaf role model have been little explored in the literature. This paper explores available literature on role models for supporting families of deaf children and hearing practitioners. Most deaf people (about 95%), all over the world, have hearing parents and do not meet deaf adults and sign language before the age that formal primary education starts. The majority of hearing parents do not come in touch with deafness even after their child is diagnosed of being deaf. But it’s really crucial for families to have resources that allow them to help their child develop language and have full interaction with their family. Additionally, deaf role models can play a vital role in the development of deaf children’s knowledge, skills, and perceptions. Further work would be also required to understand the longer-term benefits and further developments that deaf role models may wish to initiate. Article visualizations:<img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0909/a.php" alt="Hit counter" />

Highlights

There are 34 million children with disabling hearing loss, which is defined as greater than 30 dB hearing loss in children (World Health Organization, 2018)
From parents’ reports, it was found that meeting deaf adults resulted in several benefits: positive attitudes towards deaf people and deaf culture (Mohay et al 1998), feeling more able to parent their deaf children by reducing their feelings of isolation (Hintermair, 2000), learning more sign language (Takala et al, 2001), and making improvements to their deaf children’s communication competence (Takala et al, 2001; Watkins et al, 1998)
The ongoing support given to the deaf role models was seen to be vital to the success of the project. Such attention to continual structures and processes of support, rather than initial training, has been identified as lacking in other studies (Parasnis & Fischer, 2005; Sutherland et al 2003). This applies to deaf professionals who work with deaf children and their families and/or professionals working with them; for example, Parasnis and Fischer (2005) noted the lack of support for the staff members from minority groups and felt that something should have been in place to help them not to feel overburdened and underappreciated

Summary

Introduction

There are 34 million children with disabling hearing loss, which is defined as greater than 30 dB hearing loss in children (World Health Organization, 2018). The overwhelming majority of deaf children (90–95%) are born to hearing parents (Hadjikakou & Nikolaraizi, 2008; Mitchell & Karchmer, 2004; Moores, 2001; Schein & Delk, 1974), most of whom are likely to have had little or no experience with the norms, values or language of the deaf community (Hindley, 2005; Young, 2003), or lack of information that will help them open up their deaf child’s world visually and make language available to their child This lack of knowledge and contact marginalizes deaf people, their sign language, and their deaf culture (Hoffmeister & Caldwell-Harris, 2014). Acquiring a bicultural identity is crucial for most deaf people in developing a productive and rewarding life

Defining Role Models

The role-modelling process

Impact of Deaf Role Models

Benefits of Role Models

Findings

Conclusion