Deaf Community in the Modern World

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Introduction

The deaf community is among the most undermined in the modern world, frequently thought to have free access to all services. Thus, deaf and hard of hearing people face various challenges each day that significantly influence their mental state. Thousands of deaf Americans are unable to communicate due to peoples lack of American Sign Language (ASL); therefore, this immersion mission aims to raise awareness of the vitality to incorporate sign language in each sphere to simplify the lives of hearing-impaired individuals.

Problem Statement

The deaf communitys central problem is lack of specialists with ASL knowledge at public places. The primary audience of this immersion activity is legislative structures, with power to create laws requiring an ASL speaker to be at places of at least vital needs. As a result of this initiative, the everyday lives of hard of hearing Americans will become much more manageable and socially possible. Access to facilities and adapting their services to deaf people will ease the daily lives of this community and secure their well-being.

The resolution is fully applicable to the local limits and may be pitched to the council, which could then be interpreted in towns premises, further expanding to the nationwide initiative. 500,000 citizens speaking American Sign Language daily face communication struggles in each place of destination (Anderson et al., 2018). Lack of proper communication and access to simple needs expose deaf people to the inability to receive essential needs such as adequate health services or contacting 911. An ASL public health survey identified striking disparities in suicide compared to the general population, meaning that societys unpreparedness for the people with such disability increasingly affecting this population (Anderson et al., 2018).

Hearing disabilities have a significant economic impact due to communication issues. WHO estimated a global cost of US$ 750 billion of unaddressed hearing issues, including health costs, educational support, inability to find employment, etc. (World Health Organization, 2020). Therefore, a continuous ignoring of this issue will annually increase global funds losses, but most importantly, worsen the lives of those with disabilities. Occurring in each place of the world, the low accommodation of facilities to the hearing impaired people stays unresolved due to lack of attention. The local community can raise awareness of such matters, subsequently acquiring support from local governments, adapting several places to accommodate deaf people.

Core Social Action Question

How could I raise awareness on the accessing issues among deaf people and initiate change in my community?

The Action Plan

Goal and Strategy 1

By the end of 2021, we plan to hire an ASL speaker at each towns governmental structure to aid deaf people in completing their operations. To achieve hiring ASL speakers at each towns governmental facilities, I plan to closely work with the local governments, promoting this initiative among the town residents and personally drafting proposals for such endeavor. Precisely, I plan to develop a specific request, which I plan to present to the local legislatures and further promote it to them, so it is not ignored. Local governments frequently adopt initiatives from the residents to establish a more trusting relationship inside the community and favor collaborative initiatives implemented collectively (Chaffey et al., 2017).

Enacting change through local government may become a significant challenge for the activists; however, correct assets and a detailed action plan, will provide for the successfull approach of the legislators, initiating social change. The projects first task is to pitch the ideas to the local government. The central importance of such supports will give political support necessary to ensure the success of initiatives that involve the community (Chaffey et al., 2017). Even though initiatives supported by the authorities take longer to implement, they will be more effective, opposing to those organized by small community groups. Hence, gaining local governments support and starting project implementation are the principal tasks for this goal.

Goal and Strategy 2

By September 2021, we plan to provide ASL training for local resident. To achieve that, I plan to accommodate the space for learning and volunteers willing to teach ASL. Besides, I plan to promote such courses through social media and printed advertising in public places. Specifically, I will ask local schools for classrooms to hold the lessons. The next step will be finding volunteers interested in developing the deaf community and teaching ASL to those wishing to learn.

Moreover, I plan to approach hospitals and local stores to organize employee training to at least acquire the basics of ASL. Ultimately, to find people for the learning sessions, I plan to make brochures and advertise such an online and local initiative. According to SHRM, a particular ASL activity organized in AT&T not only raised awareness on the communication with deaf people but also became a bonding team activity (Gurchiek, 2017).

The first task for the goal is to popularize the importance of learning ASL for hearing people. Society must facilitate the comfortable immersion of hearing-impaired people inside the community. Therefore, classes for town citizens and employee training will become a major step for deaf people to feel less anxious any time stepping out in public. The second task is to enhance the mental health of people with hearing disabilities, as anxiety is more prevalent among deaf people than people without disabilities (Shoham et al., 2018). Providing ASL classes for workers at the most life-needed places will majorly contribute to people with hearing disabilities overall mental state.

Goal and Strategy 3

By June 2021, we plan to create an community supporting hearing impaired people and taking the initiative to resolve their issues. To create such association I plan to unite a group of deaf people to collectively enhance the level of life of people with hearing disabilities. Specifically, I plan to find and contact as many deaf people in my town, creating an organized community for initiating positive change to enhance social interaction with the world. Such initiatives make communities united by a common social problem a natural tool for enacting change, allowing to pursue bigger goals easier (Speer & Christens, n.d.).

The second vital task is to unite the local deaf community to organize one force for achieving collective goals. Acting on concerning topics together is always easier rather than individually. I will need to contact deaf people who live at my location, asking to join the community and further spread this initiative on their social media or in person. In such a way, I believe we can organize a group of motivated people with hearing impairment, gradually changing the towns accommodation for disabled people. Thus, uniting a community of deaf people, motivated to improve the town, its promotion and broadening are the primary tasks for this goal.

Evaluation Plan

Goal 1

Since collaborating with governmental structures continuously works to provide accommodation for the deaf community across the town, the evaluation method should be constantly redefined. For that reason, each stage of the process implementation is not restricted to any predefined variables but rather looks at the overall result as the outcomes are progressing. However, a constant reassurance of the hearing impaired community is required to track their satisfaction or disapproval.
The heuristic method of evaluation will be used for the assessment of this goal. It incorporates the continuous redefinition of the projects as its implementation process continues. As different stages are being implemented the new questions of evaluation are appearing. The most defined part of this process is measuring the level of improvement among the deaf community by providing surveys or conducting interviews at project implementation sites.

Goal 2

Implementing training courses for ASL requires significant work but promises prosperous results. To precisely evaluate the results, I would first collect the statistics of non-deaf people who can speak in sign language to compare the effects after a certain period. Vital to evaluate the level of social anxiety hearing-impaired people feel before the project implementation and after the employee education of ASL.
The evaluation methods for this goal will include comprehensive statistical analysis of the towns population on ASL knowledge and evaluation of the social anxiety among deaf people. Additionally, after the first project implementation, the same procedure will be completed to determine the programs success.

Goal 3

To evaluate the success of creating an efficient community of deaf people, I will use a comprehensive community initiatives assessment. Initially, the goal is to determine the extent to which the social initiators participate, what projects were implemented, its impact on the overall comfort state of deaf people, and the community leaders evaluation. All these factors would become a useful tool for measuring the success or failure of creating an active community of people with hearing impairments. Such assessment should be implemented after the first quarter of the group creation and applied further in time.
The evaluation methods would include surveys with the above-mentioned questions, interviews with people affected by the implemented initiatives, and the project implementation statuses to confirm the group effectiveness.

References

Anderson, M. L., Riker, T., Gagne, K., Hakulin, S., Higgins, T., Meehan, J., Stout, E., Pici-DOttavio, E., Cappetta, K., & Craig, K. S. W. (2018). Deaf Qualitative Health Research: Leveraging Technology to Conduct Linguistically- and Sociopolitically-Appropriate Methods of Inquiry. Qualitative Health Research, 28(11), 18131824.

Chaffey, H., Bruce, S., & Woods, R. (2017). Walking with Communities. University of Technology Sydney.

Gurchiek, K. (2017). Learning Sign Language Bonds Team with Deaf Co-Worker. SHRM.

Shoham, N., Lewis, G., Favarato, G., & Cooper, C. (2018). Prevalence of anxiety disorders and symptoms in people with hearing impairment: a systematic review. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 54(6), 649660.

Speer, P., & Christens, B. (n.d.). Community Organizing.

World Health Organization. (2020). Deafness and hearing loss.

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