Deafness results when a person’s ability to detect and understand sounds is compromised. This can affect the range, the quality, or the amplitude (volume) of sound stimuli. Common causes are mechanical problems in the ear, genetic factors, environmental exposure to loud noise, and disease. There is a distinction between a person that is “hard-of-hearing” who has partial or complete hearing loss in one or both ears ranging from mild to profound, and a person that is “deaf” where the hearing loss is so severe as to create major difficulty processing linguistic information aurally even with amplification. Those who are deaf and use ASL (American Sign Language) as their primary means of communication sometimes consider themselves part of Deaf Culture, and thus identify themselves as “Deaf” (with an upper case ‘D’). Other deaf people, who may use ASL but do not consider themselves part of Deaf Culture, might identify themselves as “deaf” (lower case ‘d’).
In educational settings, students that are hard-of-hearing or deaf can experience difficulty in large halls, classrooms with poor lighting, and speakers who talk rapidly, quietly, or in a manner that is unclear. It is also difficult, if not impossible for the deaf student to “watch” lectures through lip reading or interpreters and at the same time take notes or follow instructions. Group discussions are often challenging without sufficient interpreting services.
The language used by deaf persons is: American Sign Language (ASL) – a distinct language with its own grammar and word order system.
There is also a way of signing called Pidgin Signed English, which retains English word order, but this is often viewed negatively and it is not considered a language by deaf people. It can be used as a way of bridging the gap between spoken English and ASL. ASL Interpreters would be familiar with ASL as well as Pidgin Signed English.
Important adjustments often used by deaf students:
- Aural Amplification – various assistive listening devices including hearing aides and telephones.
- Captioning – lectures, movies, and other visual presentations have captioned words going along with the presentation.
- Computer-Aided Real-time Translation (CART) – a service where a stenographer follows along with an aural presentation by speed-typing words, phrases, and sentences to provide real-time captioning.
- Service Animal – acts as a guide to alert for important sounds, such as emergency evacuation alarms, and also serves as a companion for the deaf person (since deafness is invisible, the service animal allows other people to be aware of a person’s deafness and acts as an advocate for that person).
Helpful Strategies for Hard-of Hearing or Deaf Students:
- If you know you will need ASL interpreters, CART services, and/or a note taker during your residency, please contact the Academic & Disability Support (ADS) Coordinator as soon as possible so that arrangements can be made well in advance of the residency.
- If you will be bringing a service animal, it will be important to notify both the ADS Coordinator and Housing for adequate room arrangements. You will also need to provide the ADS Coordinator with vaccination records and other information about your service animal.
- If the lighting at a particular residency event or meeting space is not sufficient, please let the Help Desk or presenter know in case arrangements can be made to improve the lighting.
Considerations When Working With Hard-of-Hearing or Deaf Students:
- Seek out and create educational environments that are free of background noise and visual distractions.
- Check with the student to be sure the lighting in the classroom or meeting space is adequate--not too bright so as to cause shadows, not too dark so as not to be able to see faces clearly.
- Speak so the student can clearly see your face, and avoid blocking your mouth with hands or books.
- Articulate your words in the clearest way that you can, and only speak slightly slower if the deaf person asks you to slow down (otherwise, slowing down too much can be patronizing to the deaf person).
- Be prepared to think up synonyms for words that the deaf person cannot comprehend.
- When needed, use body language and facial expressions to supplement speech.
- Write the main points of a discussion, a lecture, or instructions on a board or flip chart.
- Use visual aides – pictures, art, computer presentations with projector.
- If possible, provide the student with outlines and lecture notes.
- Conduct student-faculty meetings or group discussions on email where the student can read rather than listen.
- Use captioning whenever showing films or television clips.
- If student has accompanying speech disorder and you are unable to understand something, it is okay to ask the student to repeat what they said or to write it down.
- If you have the time or inclination, read up a little on Deaf Culture so that you have a sense of the distinct experience your student has of the world. However, keep in mind that every deaf or hard-of-hearing person has their own UNIQUE experience, and the best way to learn about that is to ask the student directly.
- Know that the student may have a note taker, ASL interpreter, or CART services in class.
- If a student has a service animal, coach other students to respect that the dog is working and it’s best to never approach the animal during the class, and to always ask permission before approaching or petting the animal outside of the classroom.
Selected Resources on Deafness:
National Association for the Deaf
Online ASL Dictionary
Gallaudet University
