Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents

Inclusion and Deafness Seminar

University of Manchester, June 14th 1999

The Inclusion of Deaf Adults in the Education of Deaf Children

Doreen Woodford: Initiatives on Deaf Education

5.1 Initiatives on Deaf Education in the Third World was established in 1985 in response to the needs of practitioners in the South for information and networking opportunities. The information and views expressed in this paper are informed by Initiatives’ Partners in the South, though primarily in Africa.

"You cannot educate Deaf children without Deaf adults. The education of Deaf children
needs and benefits from the inclusion of Deaf adults at all stages."

5.2 Key issues

(a) Deaf adults are the most obvious human resource available for the education of Deaf children, yet they are so often overlooked;

(b) The education of Deaf children needs and benefits from the participation of Deaf adults;

(c) There should be no ceiling to the position that a Deaf person can hold;

(d) A Deaf person is not automatically suitable as a teacher of Deaf children just because he or she is Deaf;

(e) Willingness to include Deaf people appears to be greater in some African countries, than elsewhere;

(f) Many countries limit inclusion, if it takes place at all, to the teaching of art and vocational, rather than academic subjects. Employing Deaf adults as ‘helpers’ in the classroom, rather than as teachers, is also very common;

Teacher inclusion in the People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) of the Congo

The headteacher of the school at Kisangani, in the PDR of the Congo, is Deaf and 50% of the teachers are also Deaf. The head provides in-service training for the teachers, who are mostly ex-pupils and do not have any formal qualifications beyond whatever was obtained during schooling. Everyone uses Sign Language at all times, and new teachers have to learn as rapidly as possible. There are 130 students who are educated in French and in Zairean Sign Language and the standard of education is very high. The head has been responsible for starting at least nine other schools in the Congo. The wife of the headteacher, who is also Deaf, teaches a small class of Deaf children on the other side of the river. The children had been crossing the river to attend the main school until the small class was started.

5.3 Some of the reasons for the inclusion of Deaf adults in schools for Deaf children are as follows:

(a) There is a shortage of people available to teach Deaf children;

(b) There is a lack of knowledge of Sign Language among hearing teachers;

(c) There is less emphasis on speech, possibly because of the absence of speech therapists;

(d) Deaf people have taken the initiative to set up schools for Deaf children;

(e) Deaf adults had to struggle in their childhood and they are concerned to improve the situation for the next generation;

(f) Good relationships between schools and the national associations of Deaf people;

(g) Deaf staff are often ex-pupils of the school and it is rare for them to have any formal qualifications beyond whatever was obtained during schooling;

(h) The influence of Andrew Foster, a Deaf Black American who set up schools and churches in African countries, lives on. The headmaster at Kisangani is a former Foster pupil.

(i) A social model of Deafness prevails in the communities where Deaf adults have been included in education.

5.4 Barriers to the inclusion of Deaf adults in the education of Deaf children:

(a) The lack of opportunities for Deaf children to progress from primary to secondary education;

(b) The fear of hearing teachers who feel threatened by competent Deaf adults because they are able to relax in the company of Deaf children, and sign and interpret with ease;

(c) The training of hearing teachers in universities overseas;

(d) The increasing professionalisation of the education of Deaf children.

"The inclusion of Deaf children in their local schools could work against the
inclusion of Deaf adults in the education of Deaf children."

5.5 It is important to distinguish between being born Deaf and becoming deafened because of the effect which deafness has upon language development. The following definitions were agreed upon:

Deaf: Children who are born Deaf and those who become Deaf in the first two to three years of life before developing spoken language.

Deafened: People who have once been able to hear, but have lost their hearing from the age of 3 years and above.

5.6 In all countries there are more partially-hearing and Deafened people than congenitally and pre-lingually Deaf people. This is even more true of Africa, where there is a very high incidence of acquired Deafness. This is an important fact to bear in mind when considering the equalisation of opportunities for Deaf people and between Deaf and deafened people. Full inclusion will only have been achieved when all groups of Deaf people are fully included.

Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents

22/10/1999