With an estimated 300,000 school-aged students attending schools within the United States, Deaf and hard of hearing students are a diverse group of students that can present both a challenge and opportunity to educators. With varying degrees of hearing loss from partial to total, these students can often require technology that schools simply don’t have. Without technology, there are still accommodations and modifications that teachers can utilize to help these students be successful. So, what do these mainstream schools do to accommodate these students? And what happens if the educational systems set in place fail in providing equal opportunities?
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed July 26, 1990, and with its implementation, discrimination of Deaf or hard of hearing people in all arenas became illegal. While the ADA doesn’t specifically target education, Title II and Title III of the ADA states that any state or local government agency that receives federal funding must provide Deaf individuals with equal opportunity to public services, which is the category that education falls into.
What is Equal Opportunity?
Equal opportunity to these services means that Deaf or hard of hearing students have the same access to curriculum, communication skills, and social interaction as all other students. Some of the ways educational institutions meet the needs of Deaf students are with the use of sign language interpreters, real time captioning or transcription, or assistive listening devices. However, equal opportunities for Deaf students within education do not stop just at academic activities, any activity that is open to the public must be able to accommodate a Deaf or hard of hearing student, so extracurricular activities, assemblies, and school funded field trips all must be able to provide equal opportunities to Deaf or hard of hearing students. Some schools have challenged this, however the Office of Civil Rights, which is the enforcing agency for the ADA, has ruled that not providing access to a qualified sign language interpreter at the minimum is a discriminatory practice.
Access to accommodations
Additional Support for Deaf Students
A vast majority of Deaf students attend mainstream schools. These schools must be able to accommodate students’ needs using technology or specific accommodations which can include working with an itinerant teacher who knows American Sign Language (ASL). In addition to access to a teacher fluent in ASL, students can have a multitude of accommodations to help them better access the curriculum, including scribes to help them take notes during lectures or teacher typed notes. If students are lip readers, they can have priority seating so that they are able to see the teacher’s mouth as she speaks, as well as having visual aids for any concepts being taught, avoiding oral testing, or at the least providing written versions of testing. In fact, most assignments where oral communication is part of the assessment should be replaced with an alternative assignment. Access to these accommodations are not limited to the classroom. If a Deaf or hard of hearing student chooses to participate in tutoring, after school sports, or student organizations, accommodations must be made to ensure the student has the same access as all other students.
Deafness is considered a low incidence disability, which means the educational implications that come from Deafness are not well known or widespread. Most Deaf students attending a mainstream elementary or high school would need to be on a 504 plan to take advantage of the accommodations that are available to them through the ADA or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). If their Deafness has an educational impact on their abilities, then an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) would need to be drafted and implemented to help them be more successful. Both a 504 plan and an IEP are legally binding agreements between the student and the school district. If at any point, a parent or student feels that they are not receiving equal access, they could request a due process hearing to determine if the school is in fact providing the student with free and appropriate education in the child’s least restrictive environment.
Beyond Mainstream School
One would be remiss to discuss equal opportunities for Deaf students and not mention the development and implementation of day schools for the Deaf. While only a minority of students nationwide attend these schools, they are public educational institutions that allow for growth of Deaf or hard of hearing students as individuals and introduce Deaf culture to students of all ages, something that would be sorely lacking from a mainstream public school. It would be difficult to embrace Deaf culture if you were the only one in your class or family who was Deaf, so many of these students come from generational families of Deaf people. These schools teach dual language development in ASL and English and allow for Deaf students to build quality relationships with their similarly abled peers. In addition to the academic curriculum, they work on social skills and often employ Deaf or hard of hearing teachers, who become role models for the students as these teachers know exactly what struggles the students are going through. There are also residential schools that are available for Deaf or hard of hearing students that they can attend with their peers. While day schools are similarly structured to a mainstream school, residential schools are more like boarding schools.
Conclusion
All students learn differently, that is something that has been well documented, and Deaf students are no different. Regardless of what type of schooling they attend, they should have access to accommodations and modifications and if they do not, there are steps that can be taken to make sure they have equal access to a free and appropriate public education through ADA and IDEA guidelines. If you are ever concerned about your student not receiving a qualified sign language interpreter, contact Unspoken Language Services to bridge the communication gap and create an inclusive and accessible environment for all.
