Education Commons^™

Hailey's Hearing Aids, Hailey Marie Garcia

Whittier Scholars Program

Individuals from the deaf and hard-of-hearing community are likely to experience more anxiety and depression due to defective cognitive, social, communicational, and emotional skills (Azizi et al., 2019). The word “disability” is embedded with historical negative connotations with phrases such as “deaf and dumb” because if they were deaf or mute then they were automatically labeled as inferior (Horovitz, 2007). Since the 18th century, the DHH community has been seen as incapable, even inhuman, hence the development of emotional deficiencies that bleed into one’s perception of society and their self esteem (Gallaudet, 1886).

How do you navigate a hearing world …

Mutual Rescue: Disabled Animals And Their Caretakers, Lynda Birke, Lori Gruen

Animal Studies Journal

In this paper, we explore how caretakers experience living with disabled companion animals. Drawing on interviews, as well as narratives on websites and other support groups, we examine ways in which caretakers describe the lives of animals they live with, and their various disabilties. The animals were mostly dogs, plus a few cats, with a range of physical disabilities; almost all had been rehomed, often from places specializing in homing disabled animals.

Three themes emerged from analysis of these texts: first, respondents drew heavily on the common narrative of disabled individuals as heroes, often noted in disability rights literature – …

The Issue Of Unemployment Among People With Disabilities, Angelina C. Pagano

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The rate of unemployment for people with disabilities continues to rise greatly above that of people without disabilities. The issue seems to be exacerbated by employer biases and concerns which are not supported in the face of evidence. A lack of employer education on disability related subjects causes this misconception among both employers and the public as a whole. To resolve the underlying problem of miseducation, an increase in the self-identification of people with disabilities is necessary to provide researchers with data to assist in the formation of a revised curriculum.

The Problem With The School System, Julianna Vanvalin

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

From the beginning of America, schools have existed in some shape or form. However, once the school system became standardized its failings started to show through. The modern school system is discriminatory against disabled students and students of a low socioeconomic status. It also does not properly prepare students for their future, and promotes poor mental health. In order to fix the school system, it is important to recognize the current failings in regards to students and aim to improve them.

Writing With The ‘Other’: Combining Poetry And Participation To Study Leaders With Disabilities, Rama Cousik, Paresh Mishra, Mariesa K. Rang

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, we describe the process of transformative co-authorship between researchers and a participant with disabilities. The researchers were conducting a larger study that aimed to identify different factors that shaped individuals with disabilities to assume leadership roles. Drawing from interview data obtained from the participant, one researcher wrote a poem that provided a stage for the researchers and the participant to engage in reflexive process that transformed the researchers-participant relationship to that of co-authors. This paper describes this transformative process and what everyone learned from this enriching experience.