What is D/deaf?

Each year the University welcomes many deaf students. Although each students needs may differ, there are many general strategies that can enable effective teaching and learning.

Spoken language is fundamental to our everyday communications and forms an important part of most interactions within the university setting. It is worth considering the impact deafness can have on a student’s access to learning. Many aspects of learning and the wider university experience are affected. These include potential difficulties with: listening, attention and concentration, literacy, language development, auditory memory, processing time, incidental learning, social skills, self-esteem and learning style. It is important to consider the approaches to teaching and assessment and strive to develop inclusive practices that will not only enable deaf students to participate fully, but will support the learning experience of all students.

There is a lot of variation in levels of hearing loss, ranging from mild to profound. Someone with mild hearing loss would have difficulty following normal conversation in a noisy room or understanding someone who is softly spoken. Individuals with mild hearing loss tend not to wear hearing aids as they can amplify background noise and distort sound. A student with mild hearing loss might have difficulty in seminars where there are multiple group discussions taking place. They could also miss out on input from their peers in whole class discussions and would benefit from contributions being repeated back by the tutor. A student with mild hearing loss might not disclose a disability and could therefore remain hidden. Inclusive teaching practices such as summarising key teaching points will benefit all students and remove some of the disadvantage associated with mild hearing loss.

Someone with moderate/partial hearing loss will have retained a considerable degree of hearing but may have difficulty understanding direct clear conversation in a quiet room. With the use of a hearing aid, it may not be apparent that a student has a hearing loss. However, they may also rely on the visual context to follow speech. A student with moderate hearing loss may have difficulty following a lecture and could miss instructions that are not backed up with written information. The disability service offers supports to facilitate communication and make learning more accessible to these students.

A person with severe hearing loss will be unable to hear someone talking to them directly. Consideration will have to be given to the communication support needs of these students in all spoken interactions and necessary adjustments made. Students may require the use of communication supports such as interpreters or notetakers. This can be arranged through the disability service.

Individuals with profound hearing loss will be unable to hear loud noises and are unlikely to benefit from hearing aids. In some cases these students would use sign language rather than oral communication. Students who do not use sign language would use a note taker in place of an interpreter. The student should be consulted to check their individual support requirements. In addition to teaching support, consideration should be given to safety as these students may be unable to hear sounds alerting them to danger.