Policy for deaf children in different countries around the world can lag actual reality on the ground. Several articles the Sound Advice team read recently, make interesting reading. Our question is, what statistics are national/federal policy makers not getting – and why exactly?
Listening And Talking Within The CRPD
Case in point: a mother in Monterrey, California, who has to fight to secure supports for her verbal deaf son and daughter, who have cochlear implants. If the children learned in sign language, they would get supports by default. With implants, they need supports that the school district is slow to provide.
The US Senate’s unrelated plans this year to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) concerned Team Sound Advice, too. This CRPD would make sign language and Deaf culture the ‘right’ of every deaf person. In short, the needs of verbal deaf children or adults appeared to be omitted from the CRPD’s proposed text for ratification, when these children and adults equally need practical supports – which simply are different.
Problem: No provision is in CRPD for verbal deaf children or adults, most of whom don’t sign, or relate to deaf culture. Our research found analyses of CRPD , firstly from a deaf lawyer’s angle and from a verbal deaf perspective. The value of balanced information is clear after reading both these reviews.
Spoken Language Supports For Families
In 2012, the US has several centres providing spoken language support to families with babies and very young children who are deaf. Australia has just one auditory-verbal centre but on a global basis, the numbers of verbal deaf children are growing, with more awareness of spoken language.
As the lawyer points out, the CRPD was drafted some years before newer supports like digital hearing-devices and CART (real-time captions) were adopted. These supports may be unavailable in developing countries – or be inaccessible when travelling, for example captions in an unfamiliar language.
Regardless, as the example of the mother in Monterrey (CA) shows, some parts of the US have a way to go before the parents of children with hearing issues know they will receive school district supports suited to their needs.
Further Reading
- Cochlear Implants Alter What It Means To Be Deaf
- After A Cochlear Implant – The Real Work Begins
- Technology Has Revolutionised Deaf Education
- Insights To The Deaf Education Debate In The US
- What Exactly Does Oral Deaf Education Involve?
- Deafness Is Different In The Digital-Hearing Age
- Apps For Son’s Language Development (Part 1)
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