It is "in" to talk about minorities, their
rights, their contributions to society, their communication difficulties
etc. Let me today try to give you a description of the hugest minority
in Europe. A minority which consists of 10% of the population in each European
country. I am naturally confirming to the group of Europeans, which have
a hearing impairment.
Is it correct to consider the hearing impaired people to
belong to the same minority all over Europe, yes in my opinion
it can be a constructive way of regarding this group of people, they can
all be characterised by having a communication disorder and they all
have met problems in their daily life, where they do not have access to
the same information as other citizens because they can not hear them or
because they have other communication difficulties connected to their
impairment like learning new words and concepts, understanding
television, reading disabilities (for some of those who ad a hearing
loss from childhood) etc.
It has been described that the Deaf communities in the
different countries feel even more that they belong to a minority in
their own country as well as worldwide. This is understandable, as they
have both a special language and a special culture. But this minority
are only of the size of 1 per thousand so the minority of hearing
impaired people are 100 times as big.
Do the hearing impaired people have their own
language/culture in each country? The answer must be no, there does not
exist a specific language/culture anyplace for hearing impaired people.
But there do exist special arrangements for hearing impaired people like
schools, clubs, cafes, counselors etc. and being impaired is a
significant part of the personal and social identity for each single
person as they can refer themselves to the group of hearing impaired
people. Unfortunately many feel that they are confused about their
social identity because they neither belong fully to the hear world or
to the deaf world although they feel connected to both communities, and
their highest wish is to be allowed to move from one to the other, but
on their own conditions.
The group of hearing impaired people is not homogenous,
on the contrary it is a very inhomogeneous group which can be separated
meaningfully in at least 5 categories:
-
hard of hearing children,
-
adults who have been hard of hearing from
childhood,
-
deafened adults,
-
people who have become hard of hearing in adult
life and
-
elderly who have lost their hearing or part of
it primarily because they have become old.
In each of these five categories should now be added
those who have had a Cochlear Implantation.
Hard of hearing children
There are approximately 100 deaf children, 100 severely
hard of hearing children and 100 mildly hard of hearing children for
each million people. In some european countries all deaf and many hard
of hearing children will still be in special schools and only few will
be integrated. But for most countries a mainstreaming has appeared so
that the school system has three possibilities of services for deaf and
hearing impaired children: segregation in special schools, partly
segregated/partly integrated in special classes in local schools,
individually integrated in local schools. The same system might work for
kindergartens and other preschool activities. A system like this gives
the possibility of individualizing the school services for each child.
At the same time the access to different communication systems might be
possible as long as there is not a polarization between manualists and
oralists.
For the new, fast growing group of cochlear implanted
children each country will have to find their way of giving this new
group the most relevant educational and social situation, hopefully in
the best interest of the child and not of any ideology of professionals,
parents or organisations! The more flexible the existing system is the
better chance that those children can have the benefit of both an oral
and a signing milieu, for this new group of deaf children who are not
deaf.
Adults who have been hard of hearing from childhood
Depending on the hearing loss and the time when it
appeared the members of this group will have learned spoken language and
be able to participate in education, vocational training and higher
education according to their interests, abilities and possibilities. A
very important issue will be, if they have access to all technical
devices and if necessary to sign language interpreters. In our societies
it is very important, that each hearing impaired youngster learn at
least as much as hearing students to be able to contest with them in the
job market. Otherwise the employers will prefer hearing candidates, who
have the same abilities and who have no difficulty in following up on
their training, when new techniques and procedures are introduced to
their work.
As to our knowledge most hard of hearing young adults
from this category will have a good possibility to be part of society in
a relevant manner which means that they can get training, have jobs and
have a social life with families, friends etc. We need good studies to
tell us whether this group has a higher percentage of unemployment or
other areas where their hearing impairment gives them a more troubleful
life situation than hearing people. In Denmark it is my impression -
without being able to prove it, that these groups are somewhat more
vulnerable than the general society.
Deafened adults
This group can be difficult to define, it consists of
those people who after they have learned the spoken language, lost their
hearing to such a degree, that they can not decipher spoken language by
help of their hearing even if they have the best possible hearing aids.
Compared to the other groups it is a small number of people, probably
only 100-200 per million. Their hearing los might come very suddenly or
it might develop slowly so that they for a long time are considered
being hard of hearing.
For all of them, the change in hearing status means a
radical change in life situation, where until the ultimate situation,
where they can no longer hear, they have had a life built on the fact
and condition, that they would be able like others to function as
hearing (or hard of hearing) persons. They have made their education,
their job consideration, their family life etc. from the viewpoint that
they were hearing. Naturally the change in ability to hear will for
everyone be a shock and only by going through a traumatic crisis, which
often will take years, they will find new ways of living with the loss
as part of their lifespace. This group has a strong need of supporting
systems like counselors, special education, self help groups and family
training.
Naturally it is among these people that the interest for
cochlear implants was first developed and many of them have today been
helped to a new way of hearing which for some has been exceptionally
good and for others only of little help.
People who have become hard of hearing in adult life
On the period of life where most people have a job,
raise their children etc. around 10,000 per million will lose their
hearing to such a degree that they will need special devices like
hearing aids, amplified phones, light signals etc. to continue their
existing life situation. For this group many adjustments have to be
done, because a technical solution is never enough in itself. To rely on
your hearing ability is as natural as relying on your visual perception,
your memory etc. so it takes a psychological adjustment to lose part of
your hearing. For many a traumatic crisis is involved and this can start
long before the hearing loss has been diagnosed and it can go on for
years after the necessary technical steps have been taken. But for most
hard of hearing people access to modern techniques and special education
training in hearing tactics and other topics will over time make the
hearing impaired person capable of finding an adjusted life situation.
Contact with other people in the same situation will also help make it
easier to adjust.
Elderly who have lost their hearing or part of it
primarily because they have become old.
For those who start to lose their hearing when they
become older this will often happen in connection with other signs of
becoming old. Therefore it might be the most reasonable thing to think
of this very huge group - at least 1-2 out of ten - as a special
handicap and not just as a hearing loss. Its implication on daily life
is of a special kind because this age group already is on its way to
losing contact with other people partly because of their friends and
family dying, partly because of their own children and grandchildren
moving away and partly because they have difficulty moving around and by
that getting into contact with others. We do not yet have a senior
policy toward handicap, but we have to find a way of giving this group a
meaningful service in their old age so as to have good communication and
possibilities of human contact.
