Hard-of-hearing children's sense of identity and belonging

Abstract

This study explores the process of identity construction for hard-of-hearing (HH) children in Sweden. Twenty-nine children aged 9Á16 years who attended special classes for HH students were interviewed. During this longitudinal study, all classes were moved from an oral to a signing school environment. The findings support the position that a bilingual HH identity exists. HH children often construct their identity by widening their reference group to include not just HH but also those who are 'almost the same'. They can have a sense of belonging either to deaf or hearing children, or both. In the development of identity HH children make distinctions between subgroups within their reference group. There were also children in crisis or with an unclear identity. This needs to be further explored to determine if the crisis is a productive part of identity construction or a problem requiring support. Gender construction also needs to be further explored.

‘I am not alone’ – an ethnographic research on the peer support among northern-Finnish children with hearing loss

“…The children with hearing loss revealed experiences of becoming excluded of mutual activities, which corresponds to other researchers' findings, too (e.g., DeLuzio & Girolametto, 2011). Children with hearing loss in Brunnberg's (2010) study reported that they do not have enough friends.…”

“…) Children with hearing loss need various hearing aids that can be stigmatizing. Brunnberg (2010) noted that a hearing aid and CI are symbols of handicap because using them makes hearing loss visible. However, hearing aids do not turn children with hearing loss normally hearing children.…”

“…Children need relationships and friendships to develop social, emotional, and cognitive skills (Antia & Kreimeyer, 2015). Friendships are significant although it is challenging to get friends and maintain frienships (Brunnberg, 2010;Kluwin et al, 2002). At the worst case, the child is socially excluded and does not have friends to spend time with.…”

Factors associated with school participation among students with hearing loss

“…Personal characteristics that are considered important for social participation include an outgoing and friendly nature, a positive attitude, optimism and resilience (Oberle, Kimberly, and Kimberly 2010). In addition, students' opportunities to interact with peers with similar HL have consequences for their social participation rate (Brunnberg 2010). Interactions with hearing peers are considered more challenging and are characterized as vertical relationships, whereas interactions with children with similar disabilities are characterized as horizontal relationships.…”

The Role of Educational Experiences in Enhancing the Cultural Identity of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Undergraduate Female Students in Saudi Arabia

“…This finding is in agreement with previous findings indicating that most important educational experiences for the development of DHH people’s identity are related to their interactions with, and support from, school peers. However, this affects specific identity profiles (Brunnberg, 2010; Hadjikakou & Nikolaraizi, 2007; Israelite et al, 2002; Kemmery & Compton, 2014; Sisia, 2012). The study also found that many participants were bullied, especially by their hearing peers.…”