“There is no greater disability in society, than the inability to see a person as more.”

— Robert M. Hansel

People have born with basic abilites such as; sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are the Ave traditionally recognised senses. Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky to born equal as others. Disability is essential issue we should be discussing and talking about. Imagine walking on a street, you are seeing a man walking across the road and he do not see the car coming so fast. What would you do? I am guessing you would shout and try to warn him. What if he could not hear you because he had a disability. People with hearing loss are part of a big amount of society. We should do our best to help them and accept as a duty to raise awareness among people.

There are 360 million deaf people in the world. 328 million are of working age. 70 million of them use sign language. Deaf people could be successful in their work life, they are capable of fulfilling. The only struggle is their hearing loss. Therefore, the bosses prefer to work with people hearing and understanding the tasks better. Improving access to training, and increasing employer appointment and awareness of communication support needs, would help to decrease underemployment rates of deaf people. Not just employers, the appealing to the deaf customers are also necessary which will maintain healthier relationship between people.

First of all, using sign language is an option. But a little majority of public knows sign language. Spoken languages can diUer just like sign languages. In my opinion, there should be more suppport for sign language in schools so that people can realise it is important to communicate with people with hearing loss. Secondly, using an interpreter who repeats what speakers are saying with clear lip patterns. Thus person could understand much better by looking at the interpreter’s lips. In addition, using a phonetic keyboard to ‘play’ the conversation on to a screen so that the deaf person or language learner can read. I really like this way of help because it is easy to grasp the information in written pages. For example, 12 in every 100 employees are deaf in United Kingdom. Your are seeing the evolution of Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL).

Now I want to draw attention to the National Deaf Awareness Month. It is on September. Deaf Awarness Month is to provide more lucidity about the contributions made and challanged faced by the hard of hearing. Danielle Guth is an undergraduate psychology student at Penn State University. She was born with a severe conductive hearing loss. I will mention some advice she is giving and I think it will help us to empathise.

1. If someone doesn’t respond to you, they probably can’t hear you. You may get upset and angry as thinking the person ignoring you. Be patient and try to assume they might be deaf.
2. Every deaf person has their own technique of language and communication. Several deaf individuals may choose to speak, sign, both, or neither of the two.
3. Some deaf individuals may not defined as “deaf”. Levels of deafness shows us not every person who has hearing loss is deaf. Some prefer the term “hard of hearing”.
4. Social situations can be occasionally challenging for those who are deaf. Trying to keep up with a conversation is challenging especially in certain contexts.
5. Everyone is different so two deaf people is not same. What might work for one deaf person may not work for another.
6. Deaf people don’t often consider deafness as a disability. Deafness does not make us disabled.
7. You don’t need to feel sorry for our deafness. We deserve to be treated as other people so that we will not feel isolated.

“I was born with a severe conductive hearing loss and hope to inspire others both in the hard of hearing and deaf community as well as the hearing community. “Everybody has a story”; that’s my motto and I hope my stories inspire you in one way or another.”

-Danielle Guth

How hearing happens?

When the sound waves reach the inner ear, they go through the cuids of cochlea. The cochlea is a snail-shaped structure in the inner ear. There are nerve cells with hairs attached to them in the cochlea. These hairs help convert the sound wave vibrations into electrical signals that then travel to your brain. Your brain interprets these electrical signals as sound.

Causes of Deafness

Deafness can happen by an accident or can be genetic. There are lots of causes of deafness. Damage to the inner ear, ear infection and abnormal bone growths, heredity, age related hearing loss.

“The greatest wealth is health.”

-Virgil

Deaf Children’s Education Life

All children deserve to educate in order to accomplish their dreams. It does not matter if he or she could hear or not. While teaching to deaf students, teachers follow strategies. For example, they encourage students to sit front chairs so deaf students have better visual sight. Use assistive listening devices such as induction loops which would be helpful. You may need to adjust the lightning in your class because reading lips would be easier. All the information should be visible as handouts therefore students need not have to follow the teacher and take notes at the same time. In addition, students should be allowed to record the lesson in case they miss something.New technology can be used to bridge many gaps. Videos, Alms, pictures can create active environment for learning.

As a result, education is necessary for all. It is often more difcult for a deaf girl to get an education. A girl who can not hear do chores most probably. I strongly disagree with that, I believe she will take part in community so she needs to know how to read, how to express herself or how to solve any problem. Only this way she could manage her life and had a happy family.

Importance of Sign Language

Sign language is a bridge between deaf people and us which helps the communication. There are some beneAts of learning sign language. Firstly, it is good for your brain since learning something new keeps your brain sharp. Learning sign language develops your expressive communication. Good way to express your feelings too. Also, a study showed that people who use sign language is better at reading body language. Sign language takes the pressure of seeking to hear words that sometimes does not coming in clearly. Last but not least, you can communicate with everyone through sign language.

In my opinion, it is important to encourage deaf people to do sports since having active sport life has lot of benefits. For example, improves the heart function, reduces the risk of diabetes and also controls blood sugar. Tamika Catchings was born with hearing damage in both ears. She mentions that she love play basketball. When she was on the court she did not feel diUerent than other kids during middle school. She is from New Jersey, USA and now she is professional basketball player Indiana Fever.

Deaf People and Music

Even though it seems hard for deaf people to listen music, studies shows that they are able to sense vibrations in the same part of the brain that others use for hearing. In addition, many deaf people go to concert. They can feel vibrations especially when they are close to the speakers. It is mostly about going out with friends, watching the interpreter and enjoying a good show with lights. Here is an example of concert for deaf people.

A movie called “Feel the Beat” is about a deaf dancer who communicates with her team in American Sign Language. According to Carson who plays the deaf girl in movie, the director of the movie chose to have a Music Concert for Deaf People deaf character because her brother who is autistic and speaks using sign language. “I felt so lucky to be included in a movie that is so inclusive and where Shaylee’s character shines so bright,” Carson says. “She also wanted to be sure that it was as real and genuine as possible to what her experience would be and how the girls and the teachers in class would have to learn sign language to communicate with her. It was beautiful to have this community that embraced her, loved her and celebrated her rather than isolated her. It was beautiful to see the response from kids seeing themselves in this character.” She is happy to change in society for learning sign language.

In summary, %5 of people are deaf in the world which means a very huge number. We can not choose to born healthy or not healthy. Nevertheless we can treat emphatically to the deaf people and learn sign language for clear communication. We have to show respect to their social events and speak equally in everyday life. There are lots of successful deaf people in various areas therefore having hearing loss does not mean you can not achieve anything. Nowadays, there are opportunities compared to the past. %5 of people are deaf in the world which means a very huge number.

REFERENCES

Guth, D. (2020, September 20). Retrieved from https://www.hearinglikeme.com/deaf-awareness-month-10-things-to-know-about-being-deaf/

Logsdon, A. (2020, May 29). Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/deafness-what-is-deafness-2162025

Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/symptoms-causes/syc-20373072

Burke, D. (2019, November 5). Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/hearing-loss

Hearing Life Company. Retrieved from https://familyaudiologyonline.com/5-ways-sign-language-helps-communication/

Pham, J. (2020, June 24). Retrieved from https://stylecaster.com/sofia-carson-feel-the-beat-netflix/