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What Does It Mean For Those With Disabilities?

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Since Social Work became a career, social workers have worked to adjust both individuals and environments to meet through advocating empowerment of the individual as well as fighting for social justice. However, resources are not infinite and unfortunately not everyone is able to obtain the services they want or even need. This year alone The Department of Child Safety is reporting a 2,326 hour deficiency per week in investigatory requirements. Similar deficiencies in delivery of services plague many agencies advocating for and serving the entire population. What does this mean for those with disabilities? An academic journal on Social Work published by Oxford University reports that even around Washing D.C. (the location of Gallaudet …show more content…

In Arizona, roughly 2.1% of the population has disabled hearing in ages 18-64. Marlee Matlin, a deaf actress as well as a prominent voice in the deaf community explains in a YouTube video “One in ten people globally live with a disability...In the United States people with disabilities account for a larger share of persons experiencing income poverty than all minority, ethnic, and racial groups combined”. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network reports that approximately 50% of deaf girls compared to 25% of hearing girls experience sexual abuse. This statistic is also consistent with physical assault, psychological aggression, and sexual coercion. This disparity skyrockets with 54% of deaf boys being sexually abused compared with only 10% of hearing boys. All of this information amounts to the basic statement that a very noticeable portion of our population is experiencing not only disability but exacerbated requirements for aid and services. When we speak about deaf individuals, why is it important that we have specific programs for deaf individuals? Why are regular services inadequate? The obvious answer is that these services can often times be tedious and overly stressful to someone with a disability due to a poor ability to communicate or feel “understood”. However, though the deaf community resides and interacts with the same population in the United States, there are serious misconceptions about deaf individuals as well as

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