Disability Information Paper (Research Paper Sample)

Disability Information Paper
Name
University
Abstract
Deaf-blindness is a disability in which a person can neither hear nor see anything. This disability may be from birth or may happen at a later stage in life. Each case of deaf-blindness is distinct because the level of severity in dual sensory loss varies. It primarily affects the cognitive, emotional and social understanding of an individual. Accordingly, the treatment of each affected person also changes. Development of communication mechanisms and assistive devices for hearing and visions are made possible so that deaf-blind children and adults can carryout their lives like their peers.
Keywords: Deaf-blindness, disability, dual sensory loss, cognitive, social and emotional understanding, communication mechanisms and assistive devices.
Disability Information Paper
Introduction: What Deaf-blindness Is
Deaf-blindness is a combination of hearing and visual disability which is very distinctive in its nature. The degree of deafness and blindness varies significantly in each case. However, this dual loss in sensory abilities creates unique issues related to a person’s ability to communicate, apply motor functions, and decipher information around him or her. About 95% of what is learned from the environment and world around people is possible through the use of hearing and sight abilities. In this context, individuals affected with deaf-blindness have to suffer from mobility, information gathering and communication challenges. This disability isolates its victims from the rest of world to a considerable extent.
Impact of Deaf-blindness on a Person throughout the Life Span
Communication and interaction are most affected by deaf-blindness in a person. Throughout the life span of a person, he or she learns from the interactions with the environment. Accordingly, this learning process results in the development of certain skill sets at various stages of age. The information in the surrounding environment is primarily gathered through the use of visual and hearing abilities. To sum up, loss in one or both of these senses will lead to discrepancies in acquired skill sets. As an infant and during the early phases of life as the Jean Piaget’s theory suggests that a personality of an individual shapes up as an infant observes his environment and extracts from it desirable and unacceptable actions. In this manner a person creates his or her personality by successfully passing through various developmental stages during the early childhood. Contrary to this, the blind and deaf children cannot study and analyze their environment in the same manner because they lack the necessary communication, and motor skills. Such child will spend most of the time by lying in the same position without any significant activity in comparison to his peers. This results in self-stimulating behaviors that are not considered normal as per average person’s standards. Their language learning skills which, in turn, lead to mental capacity building often get delayed or even impaired considerably. As a deaf-blind child cannot see and hear what is going around them so they are likely to imitate and in certain cases develop their own rudimentary gestures and signs as a means to communicate. However, it must be noted that the level of language and communication ability varies with the extent of deaf-blindness with each person. This is because some people damaged but still workable hearing and or visual senses while others are completely deaf-blind.
The mobility and motor skills of deaf-blind children are also severely interrupted. A child also gathers information from the surroundings by moving through them and sensing distance, shape, people and objects. For example, the sounds and sights of toys and people motivate children to learn and discover the world as well as their own anatomy. The motion of deaf-blind children is restricted because of which they get restricted knowledge of their environment. To conclude, children with this disability lack in development of vital concepts, and sense of space and direction when compared to average children. Ultimately, this lead to grave problems as the child grows up into adulthood and has to function in society which he cannot understand. Such people remain dependent upon others for their needs. Only those with confined deaf-blindness have an opportunity to live a life with some semblance of normalcy.
The interpersonal and social relationships grow when people interact with each other using different means of communication. All in all socialization is a product of communication. Deaf-blind children have to live in a world where there is little communication and it is often misunderstood, no logical conversations, and restricted ways to reach others. Due to this fact there are no avenues through which socialization of such children and adults can take place. Consequently, deaf-blind children as well as adults remain in isolation and do not encourage communication with unknown people.
There is reason behind the behavior a person adopts. The limitations in learning capacity create certain behavioral patterns which get added to the personality. Deaf-blind people also have certain behavioral patterns which are not recognized by the society. For instance, eye poking, rocking the body, inappropriate eating habits, hypersensitivity to sounds and bodily contact, and abnormal sleep routines are behavioral patterns exhibited by deaf-blind persons.
In the educational context children with deaf-blindness have requirements of unique learning styles because of their sensory deficits. In opposition to the average child and youth deaf-blind youngsters and adults have characteristic features which may not be exhibited by all of the victims of deaf-blindness disability. Such individuals have a twisted perception of their surroundings because of void in direct information from senses of distance. Their mental capability lacks so that they cannot generalize acquired knowledge to other settings. Due to the reason of deformed hearing and visual senses such persons lack extrinsic motivation like curiosity. There observations are poor; this means that deaf-blind children cannot anticipate events. Lastly, they are unable to follow group instruction. To summarize, all these characteristics of deaf-blind people indicates that they require a different educational program.
Treatment and Support Programs for Deaf-blindness Patients
Before suggesting treatment it is vital to determine the severity of damage to sensory abilities and the onset age of each loss in deaf-blind persons. This gives rise to unique deaf-blindness conditions in each patient which implies that each deaf-blind individual requires specific education and communication system. The foremost treatment area is the communication system. There are a number of way in which deaf-blind persons can converse with other people. Sign language, finger spelling, language-free conversation, assistive devices, and electronic communication are some of the means through which communication can be ensued. The sign language can be altered so that it becomes applicable for deaf-blind individuals. People with residual sight can have signers moved closed to them whereas those with no sight at all can feel the signs on their open palms. Tactile hand signals are often used within family members of deaf-blind people. The finger-spelling technique is usually used by deaf person...