The personal and social development of Maltese hearing-impaired adolescents

Abstract

Our study is an attempt to gain knowledge and insight into what hearing-impaired young persons really expect from society. We analysed the situation in order to recommend strategies to improve decisions and provisions for hearing-impaired adolescents as regards their post-educational, social and occupational development. We looked into the relationship between hearing-impaired persons, family members and other members of society who are in close contact with the hearing-impaired persons. We to examined the issues which hearing-impaired adolescents discuss with their parents when they find themselves facing occupational constraints as soon as they leave school. The young hearing-impaired person has to face the changes from school to work. He/she has to meet new persons, such as employers, new friends or colleagues. There will also be new situations and frustrations emanating from looking for a job and the job itself; the time lapse between unemployment and employment - the real situation. Is unemployment a problem faced by all adolescents or is the problem more emphasised because of her/his sensory deprivation? The responses of all participants indicate that total communication is used to speak with deaf persons. However, it was found out that sign language is preferred by the hearing-impaired persons themselves. It is the deaf culture that drives them to meet their peers in a club for deaf people so as to release their pressures from daily life. Our young hearing-impaired adolescents lead a secure, almost pampered life because of their sheltered upbringing, compelling them to emulate their families in their future aspirations. On the job they are as reliable as their counterparts, although they are not likely to be promoted. It has been recommended that three regional schools would be set up to cater for the educational requirements of the hearing-impaired children. The child would be placed in the mainstream school and then withdrawn for some time, on a daily basis to be looked after by a professional peripatetic teacher for the hearing-impaired.