1. CSD 3000 DEAFNESS IN SOCIETY Topic 1 DEAFNESS & HEARING LOSS Definitions, Prevalence, & Myths

2. Deafness and Hearing Loss What is deafness? What do you think it means to be deaf? Write a 1-2 sentence definition

3. Definitions of Deafness Webster’s dictionary defines deaf as totally or partially unable to hear Professionals in the field of hearing; audiologists, ear, nose, and throat physicians, or hearing aid dispensers, normally address the term deaf or deafness to mean someone who is not able to hear and understand speech no matter how loud it is.

4. Definitions of Deafness The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines deafness as "a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification."

5. Definitions of Deafness From Office of Special Education: “Deafness is a hearing impairment which is so severe that the child's hearing, with amplified sound, is nonfunctional for the purposes of educational performance”

6. Definitions of Deafness This is a disability that is multi-dimensional Depending on the author of the definition and their perspective (educational, medical, audiological, etc), the definition will differ.

7. Prevalence National Center for Health Statistics in 1999 reported about 22 million people in the United States have some degree of hearing loss

8. Prevalence Rate By Age

9. Prevalence From the 1999 National Center for Health Statistics: Severe to profound deafness affects about 0.5% of the general U.S. population 0.1% of these are kids

10. Prevalence In the 1996-1997 school year: 1.3% of kids who received special ed services were hearing impaired 25% of kids who are deaf have another disability

11. Myths and Misconceptions of the Deaf

12. 1. Deaf People Can’t Hear Anything The degree of hearing loss is a continuum Deafness has a cultural perspective

13. 2. Most Deafness is Caused by a Fever or Sickness Most causes of deafness are due to genetic factors Nonsyndromal recessive genetic inheritance

14. 3. All Deaf Children Have Deaf Parents Deaf children having two deaf parents comprise about 3- 4% of the deaf population Over 80% of children born to deaf parents have normal hearing

15. 4. All Deaf People Can Read Lips Drawbacks to lipreading: 1. Only 50% of English speech sounds are visible 2. A lot of speech sounds look alike on the lips 3. In order to benefit from speechreading, you need to have a good command of the language 4. Speechreading is really tiring

16. 5. All Deaf People Know Sign Language Many deaf people are oral only There are a number of (different) forms of manual communication

17. 6. All Deaf People Are Mute The speech production ability is really varied

18. 7. Deaf People Can’t Read Reading is a language- based skill Most deaf adults achieve an average reading ability comparable to a 4 th grade level

19. 8. Deaf Children Don’t Attend School Before the 1970s, at least half of all deaf children attended state residential schools for the deaf By 1984, 74% of all school- aged deaf children attended day classes while living at home and 15% of deaf students attended regular classes with normal hearing kids on a full time basis Today 30% of deaf school-age kids attend special schools

20. 9. Deaf People Aren’t Intelligent Intelligence and language level are closely connected “Deaf and dumb”

21. 10. Deaf People Have More Mental Health Problems Cultural differences

22. 11. Hearing Aids Allow the Deaf to Hear Speech Normally What do hearing aids do? Cochlear implants

23. 12. All Deaf People Wish They Could hear Normally Is deafness really a “disability”? Deaf--with a capital “D”

24. 13. Deaf People Can’t or Shouldn’t Drive President’s Advisory Committee on Traffic Safety in 1968 found that deaf listeners were involved in 1/4 as many traffic accidents as hearing people 97% of warning signals are visual

25. 14. Deaf People Can’t Work American With Disabilities Act of 1990

26. 15. Deaf People are Quiet and Antisocial Please!!