Mainstreamed In Residential Schools

We live in a world that is bounded by cultural norms and stereotypes that affect anyone who looks, acts, or is even born different. Our society narrowed scope views Deaf people as less, uneducated, and unworthy for the opportunities abled people are innately handed. There is a lack of opportunities that Deaf people received based on their disability in terms of jobs and acceptance. The feeling of acceptance is one thing the hearing community has felt at least once, if not their entire life, however it is a feeling that may be unknown to the Deaf community.

There are a lot of pros of going to Deaf School but it also comes with a lot of cons. The pros of attending Deaf School is that you are surrounded by other children who speak the same language as you do and you are not the only student who have hearing problems but one of the major cons in attending the Deaf School system is that students are graduating with a lower reading levels and writing skills compared to the students in public schools. This may be occurring because Deaf Schools often get teachers who are unable to properly communicate in ASL. Perhaps, having a place designed for a specific disability does more harm than good because people lower the standard when they hear the word disability. Being the only Deaf student in my school gave me the attention that I needed in order to flourish in both spoken and written language. I was expected to thrive like the hearing students in my school. By my father’s simple decision, changed the way I am able to understand and communicate information in the written

I think that all parents with deaf children should embrace their child and their new culture and learn the language that is most easy for their child to communicate in. Most deaf children feel lonely and abandoned from their families because no one ever bothers to include them into family conversations. Whenever the deaf person would ask what's going on, they would say “Oh we'll tell you later.” Always the same thing and deaf people are tired of it. They want to know now and be included! It's not fair that they have to be left out just because they're deaf. It causes depression and resentment in the deaf person when the family constantly excludes the deaf family member. In some situations, deafness was viewed as evil. One man said that his aunt told him that he must have been a bad man in his past-life and as punishment, he was born deaf in this life-time.

Mark Drolsbaugh presentation titled “Madness in the Mainstream” encompassed Deaf education and challenges Deaf children face with mainstream education. Drolsbaugh was born hearing and as he grew up, he had progressive hearing loss and became Deaf by college. Luckily for him, he was born into a Deaf family. Drolsbaugh went on to Graduate from Gallaudet and wrote for different deaf newspapers and publications and became a school counselor. He had written four books by 2014 pertaining to the Deaf community. Madness in the Mainstream was actually his fourth book and was the basis to this presentation.

There are various ways to educate deaf students and one method is called mainstreaming. Mainstreaming is when a student with a disability, in this case being hearing impaired, is taught in a class with hearing students. Mainstreaming is supposed to be beneficial for the deaf student in both a social level, as well as on an educational level. Focusing on the social aspect of mainstreaming, it is important to look at deaf interactions with peers in the mainstream setting as well as the acceptance of deaf peers from the hearing students. Deaf students are more likely to succeed academically in the mainstream environment, but when it comes to peer relations and development of a healthy self concept, mainstreaming is not as successful.

As for the social, emotional and behavioural aspects of this disability, the child will find it hard to communicate with its peers if they are not in a school dedicated to deaf students, and when out of the family home and school life will feel isolated, and sometimes become reluctant to socialise with others because of fear and frustration of not being able to communicate effectively .

The advent of new technologies such as the cochlear implant will not ultimately eradicate Deaf culture. The Deaf community is too close-knit to become torn apart. Not everyone has access to these new technologies because they are not eligible for them or the price is not right for their low budgets. Similarly, not everyone will be successful with the cochlear implant and most will return to Deaf culture for the rest of their lives. However, for those who are successful, they can still be a part of Deaf culture if they are bilingual and have adequate access to the Deaf community and its members. Knowledge is power and ASL education is spreading throughout high schools and universities all over the United States. These are several factors that

On the other hand, the integration of deaf children entering mainstream schools could dispense a positive change amongst deaf and hearing

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to PBS home video “Through Deaf Eyes,” there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing (Hott, Garey & et al., 2007) . Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are over ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents. Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group, every region, and every economic class.” The

Not at all like racial minorities, most by far (at least 90%) of hard of hearing individuals are not naturally introduced to a Deaf minority amass (Mitchell and Karchmer, 2004; Schein and Delk, 1974); as it were, their family is hearing. Not having a Deaf foundation, the greater part of guardians of hard of hearing individuals don't mingle their youngsters about their identity as Deaf individuals or open them to Deaf culture. Inquire about recommends that hard of hearing individuals not naturally introduced to a Deaf family have a more drawn out time of character advancement, and that the vast majority don't turn into a piece of the Deaf people group until their high schooler years. This more drawn out time of personality advancement is likely

Each division has completely different experiences in life, especially when it comes to school. Children with prelingual hard of hearing are going to be at a severe disadvantage when it comes to learning because they don’t have that basis of the English language. It will be harder for children to learn to read because they don’t know how to pronounce that word or how it sounds. Most hard of hearing students can lipread pretty well, but the staggering statistic of only thirty to forty percent of the English language can be read solely on lips is absolutely unfathomable (Student Disability Services, 2017). This all depends on how extensive the hearing loss is with each child.

It is easy to see why Deaf culture is so critical of those who assimilate with hearing culture because the Deaf have had a history of struggle and discrimination. Hearing culture has been critical of what Deaf people are able to do and have denied their existence. In the past American deaf people have been denied the right to vote, to marry, and to raise children (Halpern). Deaf children often were denied education, grew up illiterate, or grew up with no real language because at one point in time sign language was not allowed (Halpern).

If the Deaf student can’t hear or understands English, they will be separated from hearing student anyway. If the teacher and government officials don’t want to spend the time and energy to teach Deaf students English, how are they going to be able to be a part of hearing groups? I think it's better to “separate” and teach them young so when they are in higher level classes they will have the base English they need to understand their school work.

State School- Pros: they are fully immersed in deaf culture, everyone uses sign language, Students will be around other deaf and hard of hearing students, Education is made up to what the deaf or hard of hearing students need. They have a chance to participate in extracurricular activities. Cons: Students are away from home and their families for long periods of time, children can feel detached from their families or friends back home, depending on the state or school they go to there could be costs that are

I never was segregated into a deaf classroom. My friends, in general, I would say treated me pretty good—with the exception of the cochlear implant which was really obvious. Then the remarks started to come. They called me a freak. They said I was strange. They'd say, what's that? Is it really part of your body?’" Many hearing people see deaf people as freaks just because of the life customs. Hearing people can be more polite because even though deaf people cannot hear, they still have feelings. Deaf people go through a lot of bad experiences because of the insults, stereotypes, and misunderstandings of hearing people. There are others ways deaf people were bothered.