Deafness
A Guide for
Parents,
Teachers and
Community Workers
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Acknowledgements
The manuscript for the Guide was prepared by
Philemon A.O. Akach and edited by Doreen Woodford.
Susie Miles provided her support and advice
in the editing. UNESCO wishes to acknowledge their collaboration
in this endeavour; special thanks to school communities,
UNAD and UNISE for their involvement in this project.
The views expressed in this document are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect those of UNESCO.
ED-2000/WS/33
UNESCO
Combating Exclusion through Education
Division of Basic Education
7 Place de Fontenoy
75352 PARIS 07 SP
France
Tel: 33-1-45 68 11 95
Fax: 33-1-45 68 56 27
E-mail: s.vayrynen@unesco.org
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/sne
,TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................................................................3
Programme 1: Sign language .........................................................................................6
Programme 2: Education for the deaf .....................................................................11
Programme 3: Early identification of deafness ..................................................18
Programme 4: Parents of deaf children..................................................................22
Programme 5: Creating employment for deaf people .....................................25
Programme 6: Organizations of deaf people ......................................................28
Some Addresses........................................................................................................................31
,Introduction
All over the world there are deaf people. International statistics estimate that some 2.5% of the
world population has some degree of deafness. Some of these people are born deaf, and some
become deaf as a result of childhood illnesses, accidents or other traumas. Some children are deaf
because there is an inherited type of deafness in their family, but these make up a very small
number of the total of deaf people in the world. There are also many people who begin to lose
their hearing as they become old. This manual does not talk about old-age
deafness.
Some of the results of being deaf
We use our hearing to locate the source of sound and to find out what it is telling us. The world is full
of sounds of all kinds, some pleasant and some unpleasant. We learn to listen to some sounds and to
cut out other s. For example, if a tractor is at work every day near our house we stop listening to the
sound it makes because we know what that sound is, and that it has no special message for us; but if
we hear a bicycle bell we jump out of the way. Some deaf people can hear some sounds and not
others. Some deaf people cannot hear any sounds at all. All deaf people are different.
The most important sounds we hear are the sounds of speech. We use speech to communicate with
other people. (We listen to our own speech, too, so that we are not talking too loudly or too quietly.)
Deaf people often have difficulty in communicating with other people, especially with people who
can hear. People who go deaf after they have learned to talk feel very cut off when they have this
difficulty of communicating with other people. Sometimes a hearing aid may help them to hear other
people better, but this depends on their level of deafness. (See Programme 3.)
Children who are deaf
Deafness in children does not only make it difficult for them to communicate with other people; it
also slows down, or even prevents altogether, their learning. A great deal of what children learn
comes from what they (over) hear. They hear their family members talking and they learn. They hear
people in the community talking and they learn. They hear other children talking and they learn. They
hear the radio or television and they learn. All this is in addition to what is said to them. Children who
are deaf miss out on all this learning. Even children who are only a little bit deaf miss out; children
who are very deaf miss out nearly everything. So they need very special help in order to learn. (See
Programme 2.) This special help will come from schooling; but parents, siblings, family members and
the community are all needed to help as well. It is important that this special help starts as early as
possible, so diagnosis is important. (See Programme 3.)
Children who lose their hearing after they have learned to talk, and have been talking long enough
to develop their spoken language, need special help to continue their schooling, to continue to
develop their language and to preserve their speech. If they have some hearing left a hearing aid, if
available, may help. There are many problems with hearing aids (see Programme 3). Sign language
will also be needed. (see Programme 1.)
, Children who are born deaf, or lose their hearing before their spoken language is developed, are most
likely to be helped by sign language. Lip-reading is also useful but is very difficult. (See
Programme 2.)
Sign languages
Sign languages are languages that do not have words. They are produced by using positions and
movements of the hands, face and body.They depend on space and position in space. (See
Programme 2). They are real languages, can be used to express everything that spoken
Languages express, and have their own grammar.
They have to be learned like any other language. Hearing children learn by listening to the language
spoken around them. Deaf children need to see sign language used around them in order to learn.
They find it as easy to learn to use sign language as hearing children find it to talk. The best people
for the deaf children to learn from are adult deaf people who themselves use sign language. Parents,
family members, the community and teachers can all learn sign language from adult deaf people.
Teachers need to learn sign language properly, and know it well, if they are to teach deaf children.
But if they have deaf children to teach before they have an opportunity to learn sign language well,
they can help the children by learning some signs and using them when they talk. This is not sign
language and should be replaced by sign language as soon as possible. Deaf adults may come in and
help with the deaf children. Deaf children also need to learn to read and write the language that is
spoken in the community, just as hearing children learn to read and write. They will need special help
to do this. They can learn all these, and all other school subjects too, with the help of sign language.
More about sign languages
Every country has its own sign language just as every country has its own spoken languages. Some of
these have dictionaries and other teaching materials. Just as a spoken language may differ a little from
place to place inside one country, so a sign language may differ a little from place to place. But it will
be fairly standardized and easily understood by all who use it. Not all deaf people use sign language,
but the majority do. (Many deaf people know more than one sign language just as many hearing
people know more than one spoken language.) Deaf people who use sign language think of
themselves as a distinct community.
Because language influences culture, this community has a distinct culture. Deaf children need to
know and share this culture as well as the culture of their home and community. The capital letter
“D” is usually used to describe the people who belong to the community of sign-language users. They
are Deaf people. Sign languages can be used exactly like spoken languages, to communicate anything
(and everything).
Deaf children need to meet each other and to communicate with each other. Sometimes there is more
than one deaf child in a family or community, which is good. But sometimes children need to go
to school to meet other deaf children.
(See Programme 2.)
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