New! Website Resources on Deafness and Hearing Loss at YOUR Fingertips

Deaf children are graduating nationally at only a 3rd - 4th grade reading level.1 This is a crisis in the education of deaf children. Early years of language acquisition and literacy are crucial for all children, yet Deaf children face unique hurdles in access to language. For the hearing community, these skills are usually passed down through speech, books, storytelling, and verbal interactions. However, deaf children and their caretakers-- especially in rural communities-- face unique challenges in acquiring these skills. Only 27% of the parents of deaf children learn sign language -- often their own families cannot communicate adequately with them.2 These communities have less access to American Sign Language (ASL) courses and other services for the Deaf. However, illiteracy is just the beginning. Deaf children experience significantly higher rates of abuse.3 Deaf adults have a significantly higher unemployment rate than hearing peers,4 and they have fewer mental health professionals to handle issues like depression and substance abuse.5 These stem from deprivation of language and communication.6 The U.S. Supreme Court said:

…education provides the basic tools by which individuals might lead economically productive lives to the benefit of us all. … We cannot ignore the significant social costs borne by our Nation when select groups are denied the means to absorb the values and skills upon which our social order rests.7

Dr. Bushman in the Children and Libraries Fall 2020 issue discussed the literacy challenges that deaf children face and the vital role that parents play in providing language and literacy to their children. She says that libraries can partner with parents to provide resources for language and literacy.8
LSDHH fills the gap in Tennessee of disparate resources and provides the tools hearing and deaf parents need to provide language and literacy to their deaf children. IMLS has provided support to enhance the LSDHH website
(https://tndeaflibrary.nashville.gov)10 to provide links to needed resources in all fifty states.

The goal of the project is to: 1) Provide a free, accessible, relevant, national portal for resources on hearing loss in each state via an interactive national map hosted on the LSDHH website and infrastructure 2) to serve as a national model for accessibility by the Deaf community. This project will include ASL videos on key transition points and webpages. 3) Collaborate with Deaf Community members and organizations who will solicit sites to include from their state and identify at least one library from each state who will maintain the state’s page once the grant-funded period is complete.
By tapping into Deaf-led organizations who already serve these populations in each state, LSDHH is learning about each state’s specific resources to share with both consumers and libraries. This networking forges the foundation of continuing collaboration. The web design is inherently adaptive to meet the needs of each state. By adding instructional videos in ASL, the website serves as an example of how to modify or create a website that is accessible to deaf people who learn English as a second language and are functionally illiterate in English.

1. Cawthorn, Stephanie. “Schools for the Deaf and No Child Left Behind Act.” American
Annals of the Deaf 149 (4), 2004. 314.
2. Marschark, Marc. Raising and Educating a Deaf Child. 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press 2007. 65.
3. National Child Traumatic Stress Network. “Deaf children have higher rates of sexual abuse and inadequate treatment: White paper seeks to bridge gaps.” www.nctsnet.org, Oct. 2006.
4. Garberoglio, Carrie; Cawthon, Stephanie; and Bond, Mark. Deaf People and Employment in the United States: 2016. National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes. 2016.
5. Critchfield, A. Meeting the mental health needs of persons who are deaf. http://www.mh.alabama.gov/downloads/MIDS/ODS_MeetingTheMentalHealthNeedsOf PersonsWhoAreDeaf.pdf, 2002. [accessed March 16, 2021].
6. National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Educational Services Guidelines. Alexandria, Virginia: NASDSE, 2018. 14.
7. Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 221–22 (1982).
8. Bushman, Bobbie. “Every? Child Ready to Read: A Model of Successful Programming for
Deaf Children.” Children and Libraries. Fall, 2020. 11-20.