Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents

Inclusion and Deafness Seminar

University of Manchester, June 14th 1999

Families as Essential Stakeholders

Elina Lehtomaki: University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Read more detailed article

2.1 It is estimated that only 1% of Deaf children attend school in Tanzania and in Mozambique. According to CBR workers in these countries most Deaf children are not identified until they reach school age and haven’t learned to speak. They tend to be sent home from school because of their inability to speak, but are not referred to the education or health authorities and so are not recorded anywhere as being out of school.

2.2 An important aspect of the CBR work in Mozambique is to bring families together and to facilitate collaboration. By introducing them to disabled adults they are able to provide the family with a perspective on the life span of their child. Deaf adults can help to enlighten parents of Deaf children about what to expect in adulthood. Families can play an important role in campaigning for their Deaf children’s right to quality education and participation in the community.

"Deaf people and their families are key partners or stakeholders in the
implementation of inclusive education because they live with Deafness in their daily lives
and so can act as valuable change agents for raising awareness about Deafness in communities."

2.3 The key points arising from this presentation are as follows:-

(a) Education policy planners, decision-makers and teacher educators tend to overlook Deaf people and their families as key resource people. Yet education is carried out in the community, the schools are often built and owned by the community and the goal of education should be to benefit the community.

(b) The most inclusive families are those that persist in developing some form of communication with their Deaf family members. A wide variety of communication methods are used, such as drawing pictures, mime, lip-reading, gestures and basic signs.

(c) Inclusion in the home and family provides a firmer basis for inclusion in the community and in wider society.

(d) Although communication difficulties are often a barrier to the inclusion of Deaf children, the lack of awareness among families about Deafness is often a far greater barrier. The CBR team in Mozambique gave the following examples of the need for greater awareness: "Two families living next door to each other discovered for the first time that they each had a Deaf family member." And "An adult Deaf woman had only just discovered that the woman she thought was her mother was actually her aunt. No-one had explained this to her before."

(e) Deaf people do not have the experience of being a hearing person or of having a Deaf child, similarly parents do not have the experience of being Deaf. It is therefore important that parents and Deaf people work together in raising awareness.

(f) Inclusion should be about the whole life span of a Deaf child. Focusing exclusively on inclusion in education is too limiting.

(g) Families are essential for economic security in the income-poor countries of the world. It is therefore particularly important that Deaf children are fully included in their families.

Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents

22/10/1999