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The deafness section of EENET’s web site was created following EENET’s first meeting to discuss the issue of deafness and inclusion in 1999. It consists of miscellaneous articles and reports of seminars held. The following is a short guide to the articles available on the site, as at April 2004.
The Inclusion of Deaf Learners: observations from EENET’s action
research study in Zambia
Susie Miles & Doreen Woodford
October 2003
This short article focuses on observations made by an action researcher while
visiting a unit for deaf children attached to a mainstream school in the Northern
Province of Zambia, and while attending a meeting of teachers at the school.
This activity was part of a two year action research project which aimed to
capture the experience of education stakeholders in promoting inclusive education.
In the analysis phase of the project, significant phrases in the observation
notes were highlighted and discussed. Each phrase raised a set of discussion
points designed to promote further reflection and discussion. These phrases
provided clues to the attitudes of the teachers working at the school and to
the challenges they face in promoting a more inclusive learning environments
for all children.
Integrated pre-school for deaf children. Tamil Nadu, South India
Ron Brouillette
2003
This short article describes efforts made by an NGO in Coimbatore, India, to
promote the inclusion of deaf children in their local pre-school, with the support
of CBM. This early intervention programme is based in an English medium government
pre-school and uses a total communication approach. Deaf Community Based Rehabilitation
Workers were attached to the project and were given the responsibility of finding
young deaf children. The article also describes an unusual collaborative project
between this NGO and an NGO in Botswana, southern Africa, ‘Godisa’
which produces solar powered hearing aids. Deaf adults in Coimbatore manufacture
body harnesses and dehumidifier bags for Godisa.
Deaf Kids Sign on for School in Tanzania
M Miles
2001
This is a case study of a community-based education initiative set up as part
of a CBR programme in Tanzania. The teacher is deaf, and the author describes
a morning that he spent in her classroom observing.
This article first appeared on the Disability World website. It conveys a vivid
image of classroom activities and the interaction between the teacher, who is
deaf, and her class.
Inclusion and Deafness, Linking the Family, School and Community
Elina Lehtomaki
2000
This article focuses on the author’s experience of promoting the education
of deaf children in Tanzania and Mozambique over the past 10 years. It is suggested
that the family, school and community need to share the ideas and goals of education
and inclusion in order to create the necessary conditions for community level
inclusion. If children do not experience inclusion in the family and community,
then inclusion in the local school is very limited.
Deafness and the development of communication skills in developing
countries: Examples from Mongolia and Nepal.
Birgit Dyssegaard
1998
This article reports on the development of units attached to mainstream schools
in Mongolia and Nepal, with support from DANIDA, Denmark. The article provides
some excellent case studies of the individual children that have benefited from
these initiatives, and of the role their family members have played in ensuring
their access to education in quite difficult circumstances and extreme poverty.
The Deaf Dilemma
Susie Miles
1995
Although written almost 10 years ago as an article for the then ‘CBR News’,
this article is still relevant. It highlights some of the dilemmas involved
in providing education in residential facilities for deaf children. It also
highlights the failure of many CBR programmes to respond to, and include, deaf
children as part of their routine activities.
Initiatives on Deaf Education
Issues and Recommendations
There are four booklets produced by the participants of Initiatives workshops
in India in 1994 and in Egypt in 1997. They provide straightforward, practical
advice for people working with deaf children in rural settings with few material
resources.
The papers are simply called “Issues and Recommendations” for Interpreters, for Parents, for Sign Language and for Teachers.
Seminar reports
What does the South really want from the North?
Birmingham 2002
An EENET and DAF joint seminar
The aim of this 24 hour seminar was to provide practitioners with an opportunity
to discuss their ideas and experience of working with deaf children internationally.
This seminar was the third in a series of seminars led by EENET, and this one
was jointly organised with the Deaf Africa Fund (DAF). A wide range of perspectives
were represented at this seminar: an international networker on deafness and
education issues; a deaf person with experience of working in the South; a head
teacher of a school for deaf children and the chairperson of a parents’
organisation, both from Tanzania; a UK-based organisation which supports an
organisation of deaf people in Nepal to run its own school; and a representative
of Soundseekers who promote appropriate and accessible audiological services
in the South. There were 35 participants altogether, representing 11 countries.
The following papers were presented during the seminar and are included in the
report.
A deaf person’s perspective on deaf education in the South
Toby Burton
Toby is a deaf person from England, who grew up in Belgium, and uses three languages:
British Sign Language, English and French. He taught deaf children for one year
at the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf in Jordan, as a volunteer. Before he
could start teaching he spent a month observing the educational process and
learning Jordanian Sign Language. He believes that it is much easier for deaf
people to learn other sign languages than for hearing people. Toby emphasised
the significance of his role at the school as a role model for the deaf children.
One of the drawbacks of being a volunteer, however, was the lack of continuity.
There was no guarantee that his work would be followed up.
Soundseekers: The work of the Commonwealth Society of the Deaf
Peggy Chalmers
The Society was formed in 1959 with the aim of helping children in the developing
countries of the Commonwealth, where ear disease is very common. It enlists
the voluntary services of professionals with relevant experience such as audiologists,
ENT surgeons, teachers of the deaf both in their field-work and on the Board.
In 1999 Sound Seekers launched their first HARK in South Africa. The HARK is
a purpose-built mobile clinic, which resembles a field ambulance. It is sound-treated
and includes audiometers, ear-mould making kits and hearing aids. It costs £145,000
to build and a similar amount to maintain over a 3-year period. All Sound Seekers
projects are run in partnership with either governments or well-recognised institutions.
Partners are expected to make a contribution, either financial, or in kind.
A head teacher’s experience, Tanzania
Eliakunda Mtaita
Eliakunda Mtaita has taught deaf children for 29 years. He was the deputy head
at the ELCT School for the Deaf in Mwanga, Tanzania, for a long period and has
been the head teacher for the last four years. The Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Tanzania (ELCT) runs the school with financial support from donor agencies.
The school caters for 100 children, who are all boarders, and there are ten
children in each class. Currently it has 150 children on its waiting list, and
this number is increasing, but the school only admits ten new children each
year. All seven primary schools for deaf children in Tanzania mainland are run
by private organisations – there are also 14 units for deaf children attached
to mainstream schools, some of which are run by the Government. Only a small
number of secondary schools are willing to admit deaf children once they have
completed their primary education. The children face many communication barriers
to their education in these schools.
The role of parents, Tanzania
John Mwashi
John is the Chairman of UWAVIKA, a parents’ organisation in
the North of Tanzania. John described the emotional reactions of parents when
they realised that their children were deaf. He emphasised the fact that the
mother is usually blamed by the father for this, and has the major responsibility
for the care of the child. UWAVIKA only covers 1/7 of the country, but hopes
that one day the association will cover the whole country. UWAVIKA promotes
the training of parents in sign language in order to promote greater acceptance
of deaf people in the community.
Deafway: The role of a Northern agency in supporting a school run by
deaf people in Nepal
David Hynes
Deafway is an organisation which provides services to deaf people in Lancashire,
UK. David told the story of Deafway’s recent involvement in supporting
an organisation of deaf people in Pokhara, Nepal. The organisation has set up
a school for deaf children with the financial support of Deafway. The school
is now the second largest in Nepal, catering for over 80 children. A school
bus travels for over an hour each morning and evening to collect the children.
A small number of children have travelled to Pokhara and are now boarding nearby.
It is run entirely by deaf people. In the opinion of a deaf visitor from the
UK, it is a school with no communication barriers where the children are extremely
happy. Deafway has also supported the national organisation in Nepal to teach
community-based literacy and numeracy in remote rural areas. Seven deaf adults
were supported to live in 10 remote communities for 10 months. They worked with
deaf children and adults on literacy and numeracy skills, and they also challenged
the negative attitudes to deaf people in those communities.
An EENET meeting to discuss Deaf issues in the South
Manchester
Report 2001
This was a very small seminar which paved the way for the Birmingham seminar
in the following year. The report summarises the presentations made by the two
main speakers, a deaf woman who had worked as a teacher in schools for deaf
children in the south of India; and Doreen Woodford, the administrator of DAF.
Some of the key issues to emerge from the presentation on India were the lack
of consistency in the use of sign language and its limited development nationally;
the proliferation of private schools; the old-fashioned teaching methods; the
prejudice faced by the presenter because of her deafness; and the parents’
difficulty in becoming involved in their children’s education because
of the daily pressures of earning a living.
The second paper focused on the ‘nurturing of deaf communities’ in Afghanistan and Somaliland as part of the development of education for deaf children. The promotion of sign language as part of the development of a deaf community is seen as being inextricably linked to the quality of the education available to deaf children. Although both countries have been involved in long-term-conflict, the development of a deaf community has been very different in each country. Opportunities for education arose for deaf Afghans living in exile in Pakistan, whereas the Somali deaf population has been scattered throughout East Africa and Europe, so it is taking longer to develop a deaf community and education for the children.
Inclusion and Deafness
An EENET seminar, Manchester 1999
This was the first in a series of seminars organised by EENET to help provide
greater clarity about issues related to the specific needs of deaf children
within inclusive settings. EENET’s particular concern is about the vast
majority of deaf and disabled children who are marginalized from mainstream
education systems. There were 24 participants representing 10 countries at the
seminar, half of whom were teachers of deaf children from the South, but there
was unfortunately only one Deaf participant. The following papers were presented
at the seminar and the full versions are available from the web site.
Inclusive education and Deaf education: should they co-exist?
Joseph Kisanji
This paper provides an overview of the current trends and thinking in inclusive
education internationally. There are many different interpretations of the term
inclusive education which are important to consider before discussing the relevance
of this philosophy for the education of deaf children. Inclusive education in
income-poor countries can perhaps best be achieved through partnership with
the community and there are already some excellent examples of deaf children
being included in community-based informal and non-formal education initiatives.
Teaching Sign Language to parents of Deaf children - Judith Collins
Judith was born deaf into a deaf family. This paper describes her pioneering
work of supporting the parents of a deaf boy in a mainstream school in England
in 1987. This work was described in a book called ‘A language for Ben’,
written by Ben’s mother. Judith’s employment in the school showed
other parents and the school as a whole that it is possible for a deaf person
to work and teach, that deaf children can and do learn equally well as hearing
children through sign language, that parents can learn sign language and communicate
with their deaf children, and that there was a need for training and support
for deaf adults in how to work with children in an educational setting. The
paper goes on to describe other examples of bilingual education for deaf children,
with children of Asian heritage in Leeds, England, and with members of the Black
Deaf community and their parents in South Africa. Deaf children in South Africa
face similar difficulties to those of the Asian community in the UK because
of their use of three languages, sign language, a home language and the language
of education. The paper stresses the importance of making the link between parents,
deaf adults and educators at the earliest possible stage in a Deaf child’s
life. Native users of BSL can teach parents how to respond to their baby in
basic signs. Teaching parents in the home environment how to respond to their
baby’s developing communication needs from a very early age was perhaps
the most valuable aspect of the work.
Families as essential stakeholders - Elina Lehtomaki
The promotion of inclusion in the family for Deaf people is highlighted in this
paper as a pre-requisite for successful inclusion in education and in society.
The need to inform and support parents as they bring up their deaf children
can best be achieved through close collaboration between deaf adults and community
based workers. Examples are given from Mozambique and Tanzania, where, it is
estimated that, only 1% of deaf children attend school.
A Community-based Sign Language Programme In Uganda
Rebecca Yeo
Support for the development of Sign Language at the community level is an essential
part of the process of preparing for inclusive education. The capacity building
of organisations of deaf people helps to provide a community of deaf adults
who can teach Sign Language and provide positive role models for deaf children
and their parents. The work of Action on Disability in Development (ADD) in
Northern Uganda of supporting the development of Sign Language is described
in this paper.
Sign Bilingualism in China - Alison Callaway
A pre-school initiative to introduce sign bilingualism into a school for Deaf
children in Nanjing, China, supported by consultants and researchers from the
UK, is described in this paper. This project was implemented against a background
of a strong emphasis on a ‘cure’ for deafness at the pre-school
stage. Intensive oral-auditory methods are used and there has been a decline
in the influence of deaf teachers of deaf children. The predominant method of
teaching is through Sign Supported Chinese. Deaf girls are under-represented
throughout Chinese schools for deaf children, but the situation is worse in
rural areas.
The Inclusion of Deaf People in the Education of Deaf Children - Doreen Woodford
The benefits of employing deaf adults in the classrooms in schools for Deaf
children are highlighted in this paper through examples in Africa where high
standards of education have been achieved. Many of the deaf teachers are ex-pupils
of the school and are very keen to improve the situation for the next generation
of deaf children. Inclusive education could pose a threat to this very positive
development, if it means that such schools would close. The fear of hearing
teachers threatens the employment of deaf teachers, because of the ease with
which the latter are able to communicate with deaf children. Increasingly the
education of deaf children is becoming ‘more professional’, and
therefore more dominated by a medical model, as many hearing teachers of deaf
children are sent to Northern countries for training.
Developing an Inclusive Education Service in Papua New Guinea
Sian Tesni
The Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) introduced changes in the pre-service
training of teachers in 1991 in order to promote inclusive education. There
is only one school for deaf children in PNG with its scattered population of
4 million people and over 770 languages. Callan Services for Disabled Persons
developed a community-based home-contact scheme, an inclusive kindergarten and
a screening programme to support the Government’s policy on inclusion.
Hearing children learned to sign naturally by being educated together with deaf
children and they have acted as interpreters in primary school for teachers
whose signing skills are limited.
Overcoming Barriers to Inclusion in Afghanistan
Soo Choo Lee
In Afghanistan deaf clubs and classes were set up by SERVE, a British charity,
despite the lack of a basic infrastructure and the civil war in the late 1990s.
SHIP, SERVE’s Hearing-Impaired Programme, had a CBR programme which was
very active in identifying deaf children and in developing appropriate local
solutions to their educational needs. Classes for deaf children were taught
in local village schools after school hours. SHIP trained existing teachers
in Sign Language skills to enable them to teach these classes. Deaf girls were
taught in the home of a female teacher because they were not allowed to attend
school under Taliban rule. A Sign Language dictionary was produced and there
was a growing interest among parents and siblings in learning to sign.
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03/06/2004