Deafness is a global issue which increases rapidly and WHO expects hearing loss to affect every 1 of 4 people in 2050. Right now, it is predicted that hearing loss affects over 34 million children all over the world. Moreover, 80% of these children live in middle and low income countries where it is harder to get required treatment. For children, the issue of deafness is a structural barrier ahead of their educational and social life. Because of deafness, affected children cannot truly become a member of the society; for example, schools are the best place for children to socialize, however, because of communication obstacles, some of the deaf children attend the special schools that are established for them which makes it harder for them to socialize. Along with special schools that are not a part of society, there are lots of other educational challenges which deaf people have to get used to.
In classrooms, students with hard-hearing go through a hard time to understand the class material. Because of their condition, students with hard-hearing need to sit in the front of the classroom and numerous research indicates that visuality is the main way for students with hard-hearing to participate in the classroom; therefore, lighting and class’s sitting plan, the best shape is U shape, need to be in a way that in favor of students with hard-hearing. In addition, as these students need to be close to the teacher to be able to hear them, there shouldn’t be much auditory distraction or high amount of sound coming from the corridor. In some conditions, the best educational environment for students with hard-hearing can be achieved.
On the other hand, things are much worse for students who are deaf. As mentioned before, some of the deaf students attend schools that are specialized for them and out of the society. Still, deaf schools are the best choices for deaf students as they cannot fully communicate with others and participate in the class at other schools. However, for example in the US, There are only 96 deaf schools which are not enough for all deaf students. Because of the lack of deaf schools, the majority of deaf students have to attend other schools which are not the best places for deaf students to study because of their condition.
In conclusion, students with hearing loss need to go through some obstacles in their education life; however, with better education environments and schools that are specialized for them and well integrated with society, deaf students can participate in the class material easier and can be a member of the society unlike now.
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