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Facts
and Myths Regarding Deafness |
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There are 738,000 deaf individuals in the United States. Four thousand deaf children are born each year. |
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Ninety
percent of hearing impaired children are born to normal hearing
parents. |
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Deaf
individuals earn only 50% to 70% of what their hearing peers earn,
losing an average of $320,000 in earnings during their lifetime. |
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Forty-five
percent of deaf individuals do not graduate from high school and
only five percent graduate from college. |
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Parents with normal hearing communicate through speaking and most do not know how to use sign
language in order to communicate with their hearing impaired children. |
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Over
50% of deaf adults earn less than $25,000 per year. |
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Deafness is the most
costly single disability in terms of special education costs,
averaging $25,000 per year per child, compared to $5,100 for a
normal hearing child. |
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Forty-two percent of deaf adults between 18
and 44 years of age are unemployed. |
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An
average reading level of third grade is typical of graduates of
deaf education programs in the United States. |
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Seventy
percent of deaf individuals rely on government sponsored insurance
programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. |
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A
small minority of deaf students complete deaf education programs
prepared for independence in adulthood; 60% face either
unemployment or severe underemployment. |
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Many
parents are not informed of the communication and educational
options available to their children, and their preferences
frequently are not considered. |
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Ninety percent of deaf children are educated outside of mainstream classrooms. |
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Deaf education programs
in the public schools usually teach some form of sign language
in order to communicate with and educate the students. As a
result, few deaf students become proficient in the English
language. |
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The
average lifetime cost to society of a child born deaf in terms of
medical, educational, and productivity losses is $1,020,000. |
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All people with a
hearing loss lack the ability to speak. - (False)
While people who
were born without hearing may experience some difficulty in
learning to speak, people who have lost their hearing after
the development of speech may have little difficulty
speaking. Many persons with "prelingual" deafness
learn to use their voices in speech classes.
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All people with a
hearing loss can read lips. - (False)
Many people with
a hearing loss have had formal training in lip-reading, but
it is an imperfect process at best, with about a 30-40%
accuracy rate. It is rarely used in isolation from other
communication methods.
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People who are deaf
use one system for communicating - (False)
In the United
States, people who are deaf use a variety of communication
systems. Among the choices are American Sign Language,
signed English, finger spelling, speechreading, cued speech
and writing.
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Hearing aids can
correct a hearing loss. - (False)
Hearing aids may
improve hearing for many people with a hearing loss, but
they are not corrective devices they simply amplify sound.
If a person's hearing loss stems from profound damage to the
inner ear, sounds will remain distorted even with
amplification.
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Because many people
who are deaf have not learned to speak, they cannot be very
bright. - (False)
It is extremely difficult to
learn spoken language if a hearing loss occurs before speech
develops. Many people with deafness who have learned some
spoken language have not mastered the fine grammatical
points of their second language-English. The problem is one
of communication, not intellect.
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Unusual
sounding speech means the person is mentally retarded - (False)
Speech
development depends on how one can hear himself or herself talk
and it has nothing to do with the intelligence of the person.
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Deaf
people can’t drive - (False)
Deaf/Hard
of hearing people can drive; hearing is not a requirement for
driving.
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Bibliography/References |
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- Project HOPE, Policy Analysis
Brief, April, 2000.
- Project HOPE, Calculations
from the 1990-91 National Health Survey and U.S. Census, 1991.
- Cochlear Implants in the
Workplace, B. Dinner PhD, Jan 1989.
- Department of Education's
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services;
Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 1997.
- RAND Health Research,
"Low Levels of Insurance Reimbursement Impede Access to
Cochlear Implants", May 2000.
- Journal of the American
Medical Association, Volume 284, No.7, August 16, 2000.
- American Journal of Otology
1995; 16:52-62.
- Archives of Otolaryngology-
Head and Neck Surgery 1999; 125:499-505.
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