TITLE:
It Requires a Community to Raise a Deaf Adult: A Comparative Study
AUTHORS:
Tracy Knight, Sean Hauschildt, Beverly Buchanan, Ashley Greene, M. Diane Clark
KEYWORDS:
Aspirational Capital, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Deaf Community, Resources
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.3,
March
12,
2021
ABSTRACT: It has often been said, “It takes a village to raise a child”; likewise
for deaf children born into hearing families, this village
model provides the support necessary for optimal developmental outcomes for the
child. Here a mixed method design was used to understand the outcomes for deaf
adults who grew up a mid-size community with fragmented services in order to
better understand what worked and what had not worked for these individuals.
Results from a survey and follow up interviews identified two groups of
individuals, those who stayed in the community having access only to the local
resources and those who left the community finding more resources. In general,
those who stayed described themselves as hard of hearing and used a mixture of
sign and spoken language while those who left identified as Deaf and reported
finding a Deaf community that provided them role models, aspirational capital,
and a Deaf identity. Results are discussed using the frame of integrating
support for families, effective schooling, and transition services. Recommendations
are made to support the creation of such villages for deaf children in areas
that may not have sufficient resources.