FYI, FYI, FYI — This is Deaf Awareness Week!
This week is Deaf Awareness Week (DAW), September 23 – 29, 2007. Cities all over the world participate in a week-long, world-wide effort to make citizens more informed about deafness and hearing loss and to celebrate the culture, heritage, and language unique to individuals who are deaf. Normally, the last full week in the month of September is annually designated as DAW. This particular week of the year is chosen because of its significance commemorating the very first World Congress of the Deaf which was held in Rome, Italy in 1951.
Deaf Awareness events range from exhibit booths in local libraries, hospitals, shopping malls, museums or schools to a full week of events scheduled throughout an entire community. Lectures, performances, exhibits, film festivals, parades, ASL celebrations, trade shows and other deaf awareness programs are often held in concurrence with other entertainment venues and are held all across the nation.
Also, this year the world will observe the very first International Day of Sign Languages on Friday, September 28, 2007. At the July 2007 World Congress of the Deaf (a part of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) gathering in Madrid, Spain), delegates overwhelmingly supported the creation of an International Day of Sign Languages, as a celebratory event to be observed annually coinciding with DAW. One of the global objectives of this initiative is the recognition and legitimacy of signed languages and the advancement of human rights through signed languages.
Some of the specific objectives of DAW are as follows:
* To educate the hearing community on the types, degrees and causes of hearing loss.
* To recognize the differences in attitudinal approaches to deafness by the hearing public and deaf people themselves.
* To facilitate a better understanding of deaf culture.
* To make others familiar with the resources and services available to the deaf community.
* To bring about the awareness that deaf people can do anything and everything but hear.
Also, some of you may know that each year, the month of May is commonly known as Better Speech and Hearing Month. The basic premise is again, to better educate the general population about hearing loss and more specifically, to share more information about the different types of hearing loss and ways to minimize hearing loss with age. Many groups across the nation participate in this endeavor, including the National Association of the Deaf. The main difference is that the awareness campaign in May is based on medical tips and facts and the campaign in September is more about the cultural celebration and acceptance of deafness and sign language.
For more information on what it is like to be deaf in America log onto http://www.deafis.org an informational website created by students of the American School for the deaf located in West Hartford, Connecticut.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DID YOU KNOW?
· At least 1 out of every 10 people (8.9% to be exact) in the USA has a hearing loss.
· Generally speaking, it is estimated that at age 65, 1 out of every 4 people in the USA has some degree of hearing loss;
At age 75, 1 out of every 3 people in the USA has some degree of hearing loss;
At age 85, 1 out of every 2 people in the USA has some degree of hearing loss; and
At age 95, nearly everyone has at least some degree of hearing loss.
· Hearing loss ranks equally with arthritis, high blood pressure, and heart disease as one of the most common physical ailments or conditions.
· It is estimated that 30 school aged children per 1,000 have a hearing loss.
· There are approximately 47,000 schools or programs for deaf and hard of hearing Americans.
· Almost 80% of American deaf and hard of hearing school aged children are being educated in the public school system. A majority of these students use a combination of note takers, interpreters, amplification devices, or teachers with specific training.
· Nearly 60% of all deaf students in America are taught through a combination of manual/ visual (sign language), aural (amplification) and oral (speech and lip reading) communication. Only 40% are taught through aural and/or oral communication only.
· Though hearing loss may cause language delays for some children, it has no bearing on intellectual aptitude.
· The biggest disabling factor for deaf and hard of hearing people are stereotypical attitudes.
· A majority of deaf and hard of hearing people have difficulty speech reading as less than 20% of what is said can be clearly distinguished on the lips.
· 73% of deaf school aged students in America are considered pre-lingually deaf. In other words, 27% lose their hearing between the ages of 2 and 18 years of age – after learning at least some spoken language.
· 90% of deaf individuals have hearing parents and hearing children. Less than 10% of those who are deaf have a genetic or hereditary hearing loss.
· More than 2 million Americans who rely on sign language as their primary mode of communication. This translates to an estimated 500,000 households.
· American Sign Language (ASL) is the fifth most spoken language in the United States.
· There are more than 350 nations in the world but barely more than 50 countries officially recognize sign language as an official language.
· Less than one-fifth of all deaf and hard of hearing people in developing third world nations receive any formal education.
· Many countries in the world do not allow deaf citizens the right to earn a drivers license or vote in elections.
· Some countries deny basic human rights to their deaf and hard of hearing citizens (including the right to work, own property, marry and raise a family).
* This information has come from a wide variety of sources including: the National Center for Health Statistics; The National Center for Disease Control; the U.S. Census Bureau; Gallaudet University’s Center for Assessment and Demographic Studies; The National Association of the Deaf; The World Federation of the Deaf; Hearing Loss Association of America; Gallaudet University’s PreCollege Programs; and research authors: Davis, Stokoe, Lane, Gannon, Padden and Humphries.