Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ethnographic Insight Into The Developmentally Diverse Worlds Of Twins: “L & J”, Allison Gallant

Senior Honors Projects

According to the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (2016), approximately 3 of every 1000 infants are born with a detectable level of hearing loss in one or both ears: with 90% of these infants being born to hearing parents. Immediately following the birth of a deaf child, parents are often bombarded with decisions regarding interventions to “fix” their child’s “disability”. This decision can impact how their child will experience the world and others. The situation is a very different stressor when a hearing child is born to deaf parents. Embracing one’s deaf identity and engaging in “deaf …