Society as a Barrier Rather than a Resource for Women - Bedouin Mothers of Children with Hearing Loss Describe Their Plight

Abstract

ABSTRACT Israel Qualitative study of 20 hearing Bedouin mothers of children with hearing loss in the Negev found clear evidence of the impact of social perceptions on the mothers’ quality of life. Primarily, the mothers drew a direct connection between the birth of a child with hearing loss and the phenomenon of polygamy, which is widespread and accepted in the Bedouin population. Many mothers noted that the child’s birth was the husband’s reason for abandoning them and taking a second wife. This hurt the mother deeply and left her to cope on her own with rearing the child, without the help of her husband or her community. The birth of a child with hearing loss often generates feelings of stress in the parents, deriving from the many tasks involved in rearing the child, the intensive array of therapeutic interventions, and the need to manage the family as a whole. The community can be an important resource for the parents, but some communities, because of their unique characteristics, make the parents’ lives harder. That is the case with the Bedouin population of the Negev desert in southern Israel. Among the reasons for this may be this population’s peripheral location and isolation.