by Abel Lei
This summer, I was lucky enough to participate in the eighth Asia-Pacific Congress on Deafness. Not only did I learn a lot about the technology, education, welfare, and environment concerning deaf people, but I also gained a closer view of their lives. Something impressive happened on the first day of the meeting. I wondered why a speaker from America had such a weird accent; how could a native speaker sound like that, I thought. Afterwards, I realized that he was deaf. Amazing! He was able to deliver a speech just like a person who could hear. In fact, this isn’t amazing at all, as long as an appropriate learning environment is provided for hearing impaired people. Many people, including myself, hold the stereotype that deaf people can only communicate using sign language. But deaf people can also acquire oral language. This doesn’t mean we have to force them to learn oral language and to give up sign language. Because of their physiological structure, deaf people should first acquire sign language as their “mother tongue,” researchers have suggested. On the other hand, acquiring oral language enables them to communicate with their hearing parents, who often communicate only in oral language. It is necessary for every child to establish interactive communication with his/her parents, siblings, and surroundings. To achieve this goal, every deaf child should have the right to grow up bilingual – with both sign and oral language. Based on this reasoning, school-aged children with hearing impairment should attend ordinary public schools. This requires qualified teachers to teach both hearing and deaf children. Teachers should integrate hearing impaired students into their classes, helping them to become socialized. After class, qualified teachers should work with a team of special educators to solve teaching problems and improve teaching quality. All teachers should know that prelingually deaf children who suffer from hearing loss before learning languages are different from postlingually deaf children. In addition, even within one hearing disorder there are differences of degree. Fortunately, teachers do not have to fight alone. They can modify their classrooms into an ideal teaching environment. First, teachers could arrange preferential seats according to the side of the deaf child’s dominant ear. Then, multi-sensory approaches can be applied, such as closed captioning and other deaf services, to teach in a more visual way. Third, peer tutors can be note takers for deaf students. Finally, teachers themselves can be more sensitive when monitoring deaf students. They should increase wait-time for a response after asking a question, and make sure that everything is understood. During the welcome banquet of the congress, I received another shock – performances by hearing impaired children. Try to imagine a pair of boys with hearing loss reciting Chinese like any hearing person and you will know how touched I was. They proved that “hearing impairment is not equal to being a deaf-mute.” Through bilingualism, it is possible for deaf children to develop, communicate, and live like any other children. It is not only their right to grow up bilingual but also our responsibility to provide such an environment. #Volume 8 Issue 1 a
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May 2024
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