Hearing awareness
Approximately 10% of Canadians have hearing loss, however that depends on whether the age group being surveyed, and whether those surveyed are actually aware of potential hearing loss.
A 2015 study found that, based on a pure-tone average of four frequencies that are important in speech, 19.2% of Canadians aged 20 to 79 had measured hearing loss in at least one ear.
The rates are much higher in older adults, hearing loss is thought to impact an estimated 65% of those over the age of 70.
Those rates are based specifically on audiology tests. People who have documented hearing loss, but do not consider themselves culturally Deaf, are not involved in the Deaf community, and do not seek to learn sign language, are deaf (with a lower-case ‘d’) or hard of hearing.
Those of us who consider ourselves culturally Deaf, who are involved in the Deaf community, and know sign language — or are actively learning sign language — are considered Deaf (with an uppercase ‘D’).
This is not to elevate one group over the other, only to demarcate important sociocultural differences.
The lowercase ‘d’ usually refers to someone who “passes” for hearing; one who can speak and read lips well and does not consider themselves part of the Deaf community or culture.
Some of us in the Deaf community can read lips, speak, and “pass” in the hearing world, but also know sing language and value the Deaf community and culture.
Some can’t (or prefer not to) speak, can’t (or prefer not to) read lips, and do not “pass” for hearing. These Deaf folks are the most marginalized group because not many hearing people in the mainstream community know, understand, or use sign language.
For example, many Deaf people are underemployed due to ableism, audism, and lack of accessibility.
I’ve mentioned previously that being Deaf is similar to the experience of travelling to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, and trying to communicate with people there.
Except for us, there is no “home” country to return to. We constantly live in a society where most people don’t know our language.
Not all deaf people have had access to sign language
There is still the prevailing myth that learning sign language before spoken language will delay one’s speech, or will impede a child’s ability to learn a spoken language.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
“There is no empirical evidence for the harm of sign language exposure but there is some evidence for its benefits, and there is growing evidence that lack of language access has negative implications. This includes cognitive delays, mental health difficulties, lower quality of life, higher trauma, and limited health literacy.”
— Wyatte Hall
Many deaf people were raised orally, meaning we were raised with combinations of speech therapy, lip reading, and spoken language instruction rather than sign language. This is especially true for deaf people born into predominantly hearing families.
Parents who are well-meaning, but ill-informed, think they are doing their children favours by encouraging them to speak and lip-read. Parents mistakenly believe this will give their children better education and employment opportunities, and many professionals continue to perpetuate this myth.
Unfortunately, what it often does is create an incredible amount of frustration and isolation. Not only do some deaf children not become fluent in spoken language, because lip-reading is never 100% accurate and speech therapy can only do so much, they also miss out on the opportunity to be fully effective communicators in sign language.
Like many spoken languages and cultures, Deaf culture and sign language go hand-in-hand. When a child is denied the opportunity to learn sign language, they are also less able to communicate with other Deaf people, immerse themselves in Deaf culture and in the Deaf community.
Everything, Including Deafness, is on a Spectrum
Deafness versus disability
Hearing awareness week is about alerting people to the “risks” of hearing loss, but many Deaf people do not consider ourselves disabled. Similar to my Autistic identity, I consider my Deafness a cultural and linguistic part of who I am, not a deficit.
Yes, being hard of hearing causes me difficulty at times. However, through the lens of the social model of disability, we understand that much of these problems encountered are actually barriers to accessibility.
If large corporations and institutions did a better job of considering diverse needs and improving accessibility, many of those barriers could have been removed long ago. We are more often disabled by society and its lack of accommodation than we are by our differences.
While creating awareness about hearing health, we also need to promote accessibility, and remove barriers for Deaf and hard of hearing people.
Deaf friendly spaces
Some basic examples for creating Deaf-friendly environments and businesses are:
Ensure your business has proper signage and information is visually available.
Ensure your staff are well-trained to accommodate different needs, and to provide accessible services.
If your business is located anywhere near a Deaf community (i.e. Deaf school), it would be wise to have your staff learn a few basic signs.
Consider offering free WiFi so your customers or clients can use Video Relay Services (VRS), a virtual interpreting service, if needed.
Ensure your space is well-lit, and avoid excessive background noise (such as unnecessarily loud music).
Use subtitles or closed-captioning for any audio or video content, and visual indicators for any announcements being made.
Provide your staff with clear face masks, or face shields, to accommodate those who read lips.
Always assume competence
Don’t assume that, because someone communicates differently from you, they’re any less intelligent.
After all, you don’t speak their language either.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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Related Stories
Everything, Including Deafness, is on a Spectrum
The Social Model of Disability
References
Dammeyer, J., Crowe, K., Marschark, M., & Rosica, M. (2019). Work and Employment Characteristics of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Adults. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 24(4), 386–395. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enz018
Goering S. (2015). Rethinking disability: the social model of disability and chronic disease. Current reviews in musculoskeletal medicine, 8(2), 134–138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-015-9273-z
Feder, K., Michaud, D., Ramage-Morin, P., McNamee, J., & Beauregard, Y. (2015). Prevalence of hearing loss among Canadians aged 20 to 79: Audiometric results from the 2012/2013 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health reports, 26(7), 18–25. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26177043
Hall, W.C. (2017). What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: The Risk of Language Deprivation by Impairing Sign Language Development in Deaf Children. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 21, 961–965. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-017-2287-y