Deaf Workplace Barriers

Annotated Bibliography: Deaf, Not Disabled are The Deaf Another Culture, With Another Language? Or Should They Be Included in the New Disabilities Act? In the article, “Deaf, Not Disabled Are The Deaf Another Culture, With Another Language? Or Should They Be Included In The New Disabilities Act?”, author Maria Odom, talks about the different views of Deaf People.

Society is better than it used to be at recognising the needs of deaf people; there are more public buildings such as cinemas, theatres and conference facilities that have loop systems so that people who can use hearing aids are able to listen to what is being said or performed. There some events that now have signers to translate speeches and performances. Many television programmes now have access to subtitles and some have signers, although these tend to be late at night. People with any kind of sensory loss can have difficulties in finding employment. Even though the Equality Act and the Disability Discrimination Act mean that employers cannot discriminate, it is hard to convince an employer that a sensory loss does not necessarily mean that someone is unable to do a job.

The Deaf Community in America: History in the Making by Melvia M. Nomeland and Ronald E. Nomeland is a book written to describe the changes the Deaf community, with a capital “D”, has encountered throughout time. The authors mention, “By using the capital ‘D’ to refer to a community of people who share a language and culture and the lower case ‘d’ to refer to the audiological condition of hearing loss” (Nomeland 3). In this book we are taken through a time line on how the Deaf community’s life changed socially and educationally allowing them to live normally.

Famous poet and activist Bryant H. McGill, once wrote, “One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” In a rather perverse case of irony, there is no culture that this speaks to more than the deaf community. The unsettling reality of oppression is that if you are not exposed or affected by it, you are not aware of its existence. This is the category that I have found myself a part of while learning ASL and by extension about the deaf community. In learning about the diverse and multi-sided culture that is the deaf community I can say with certainty that the prejudice they experience is not only horrifying but also unfounded.

The Deaf community is comprised of people of a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds, as Deafness prevails around the world; discriminating against none. The Deaf community grows continually. As a hearing person learning about the community, it’s distinctive culture and how to communicate in ASL, I am developing myself and discovering my fairly new position within the Deaf community.

“The differences then lie in how this obstacle determines their lives and hoy they perceive it.” Deaf people do not see themselves as incapacitated, they simply practice a distinct culture (with their own language, values and norms). Just like any other culture, the members have a sense of acceptance and belonging (Munoz-Baell, 2000).

We live in a world that is bounded by cultural norms and stereotypes that affect anyone who looks, acts, or is even born different. Our society narrowed scope views Deaf people as less, uneducated, and unworthy for the opportunities abled people are innately handed. There is a lack of opportunities that Deaf people received based on their disability in terms of jobs and acceptance. The feeling of acceptance is one thing the hearing community has felt at least once, if not their entire life, however it is a feeling that may be unknown to the Deaf community.

It is crucial for employers and Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing employees to understand and comply with the relevant government legislation in terms of Employment. Relevant government legislation for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing employees include: the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, Ontario Human Rights Code, just to name a few.

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to PBS home video “Through Deaf Eyes,” there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing (Hott, Garey & et al., 2007) . Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are over ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents. Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, every region, and every economic class.” The

There have been some reviews shown that “the barriers such as standardized testing, lack of support services, discrimination, and lack of awareness of deafness among principals in hiring positions are keeping deaf professionals out of schools.” The deaf teachers do not receive support as much as the hearing ones do, making it difficult for a deaf person to want to become a teacher and be continually motivated to complete the program to become a teacher and to ensure that they can also get a job. The journal emphasizes that the deaf students need the appropriate type of teachers, deaf teachers to be

The Deaf community and their culture is a part of the oppressed population group. There are many limitations of being deaf in a hearing world. The Deaf community has been victims of isolation and oppression for many years. Historically the hearing culture has put Deaf individuals in social categories such as “disable” and “outsiders” (Pinquart, Pfeiffer, 2014). However, many years of being deaf has been viewed as having an undesirable condition.

There are approximately 35 million people in the United States who are considered deaf or hard of hearing (Culture and Empowerment in the Deaf Community). The majority of these deaf people struggle in the hearing world until they can find a connection to their deafness. They constantly

Discrimination is a very prevalent problem in our society. Despite having a changed personal view of Deaf culture, there are still battles being fought for the rights of humans. Humans that are just like everyone else, but cannot hear. It is with hope that society will continue to educate about Deaf culture in order to grow awareness, and provide a deeper, and more sympathetic

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript,“Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007) there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing. Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group,

Most people, when they see a Deaf person, right away see them as disabled and unable to function properly within society like a hearing person. This way of thinking has subjected the Deaf community to discrimination on a daily basis at school, work, and even in their own households. Hearing people make decisions for the Deaf in regards to how they should be educated, what kinds of jobs they can and can and cannot do, and how they should be prepared for those jobs. In this paper we will be examining various scholars who conducted studies within the Deaf community in order to understand their needs and the discrimination they face. I will be going over the discrimination faced by the Deaf community, explaining what Audism is as discussed by Eckert and Rowley (2013) and why it affects the Deaf community. One thing all scholars agree is that Deaf people face many disadvantages when compared to hearing people and each make suggestions to help stop these disadvantages. Therefore, I will then discuss the policy suggestions made by each scholar. Each scholar used different research methods to conduct their studies, because of this they each found different types of discrimination faced by the Deaf community which I will be discussing after the policy suggestions. Finally, I will conclude this paper by discussing the gap in literature, my own implication for future research that I would like to see done, and my own experience.