All United; All Equal
My firsthand experience has revealed that for the most part deaf children are taught the English language basically the same as hearing children. Imagine for a moment that you are deaf and someone has put you in a school in perhaps a far Eastern country where the language and culture is totally unknown to you...
Throughout the historical world, persons born deaf have been subjected to much suspension, ridicule, and abuse. Children were not allowed an education and adults were forbidden to marry, own property, participate in judicial systems or even enter a house of worship. It was not until the 1500’s that the deaf would finally see freedom and opportunity in their lives. Schools began to allow for integration of deaf with hearing students. Slowly, deaf and deaf & blind schools began to open. Hand gestures were being developed and communication though slow was moving forward. But in the 1870’s, the deaf populace’ world was turned upside down and discrimination often coupled with abuse began again.
It was not uncommon to see deaf children with their hands tied together..
Alexander Graham Bell began promoting what his father called, “Visual Speech.” It is called, “Oralism” today. Mr. Bell with financial means and credibility to his name began pushing the Visual Speech agenda. Children were no longer allowed to sign; they were forced to learn to speak. They were to fit in with the hearing world and no accommodations were to be made for them.
It was not uncommon to see deaf children with their hands tied together or to be struck with a stick if they forgot and used their hands for communication. Some deaf adults have recounted that as children in the 1950’s they had similar experiences and even Police officers had stopped them from signing when seen in public places.
During the 1970’s, the United States began to relax its posture in regards to education for the deaf. Over time, laws have been passed to insure that all children were entitled to a free and appropriate education as laid out by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act also of 1990 and then the reauthorized of these in 1997 and again in 2004. In spite of all this, to date, American Sign Language (ASL) is recognized primarily as a foreign language that few mainstream schools even offer. How are public schools, where the deaf are concerned, fulfilling the guide lines of the ADA and particularly the IDEA which requires that they create an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each child’s unique needs when ASL is not even offered or recognized in the mainstream educational system?
No child should feel isolated and discriminated against
but that is just what a deaf child experiences in most schools in the United States. Because of the lack of proper teaching materials only 15% of Caucasian deaf students, 5% of African-American deaf students and 6% of Hispanic deaf students will graduate with a reading level at or above the 6th grade. All of the others will leave school with barely a 3rd grade reading comprehension. Not only are the majority of deaf students not learning English, they are not being taught American Sign Language (ASL) either. Therefore, they live without language at all.In 2010, the National Center of Health and Statistics stated that for every 1,000 births in the United States that 2-3 of these children have a total or significant hearing loss. Also at that time, they’re records indicated that there were 34 million Americans with significant hearing loss; of these almost 6 million were profoundly deaf. Over the last 5 years these numbers have of course altered and I have read other stats that state there are now 48 million deaf and hard of hearing.
34 million Americans with significant hearing loss
In one of the largest Deaf Community resources and newsletters was an article about a deaf lady who suffered both physically and emotionally at a medical facility directly because her requests for an interpreter were ignored. This same woman told of another deaf lady who was trying to let an attending nurse know she was hungry but the nurse not understanding instead treated her with pain medication. It was later reported that the woman died.
“iDeaf News” brought a special feature report from the “National Fair Housing Alliance” that stated from tests they conducted in 117 national and regional rental firms in 98 cities and 25 states, about 1 out of 4 treated deaf callers differently from hearing callers in a way that appeared to violate the Fair Housing Act. There were instances of housing managers hanging up on deaf and hard of hearing callers. Hearing testers reported more units offered to them compared with deaf testers. Higher rates and application fees quoted to deaf testers, little to no follow-up given and the discriminatory attitudes went on.
Whether it’s accidental or deliberate it makes no difference if you are on the receiving end of unfair treatment. Many times the poor treatment of others is out of ignorance and so for all these reasons we feel it imperative that all children be taught how to communicate with each other. I have seen it over and over from Deaf persons that what they want is for the hearing community to provide equal and fair opportunities. Isn’t that every human being’s right in the United States?