Obstacles Faced by Deaf Culture Research

Running head: OBSTACLES FACED BY THE DEAF 1
Obstacles Faced by the Deaf Culture: A Proposal for Further
Research
University of Mississippi
OBSTACLES FACED BY THE DEAF 2
Abstract
There is a communication barrier that exists between the deaf
and the hearing
populations. The deaf population face a number of challenges
daily and nothing is being done
due to the majority of the hearing population not knowing
American Sign Language in order to

help. Researchers constantly provide various obstacles the deaf
culture face, but never include
solutions to help prevent them. This is a gap in the research
considering solutions are not being
created. The public is not aware of these issues and until they
are, no precautions and safety
measures will be created to help aid in the deaf population.
Included in this paper is my small-
scale pilot study which surveys the public and collects data on
their awareness of these issues.
After conducting my small-scale pilot study, I then created a
large-scale study I would use to
further my research if time and resources were available to me.
Both studies would contribute to
the gap found in this research and help aid in filling this gap.

Obstacles Faced by the Deaf Culture: A Proposal for Further
Research
For years, researchers have examined the problems that the
deaf culture face. Without
being able to hear or properly communicate, it sets a boundary
between that person and the rest
of the world. Communication is the key to success and
happiness in life; it is how we survive.
Without the ability to communicate, one faces constant
struggles and obstacles on a day to day
basis. Researchers have done an excellent job on displaying the
constant challenges the deaf
culture face, but they lack in the area of creating and providing
solutions to fix the problems in
our society. A separation has occurred between the deaf and the
hearing, leaving the deaf
helpless in the world. The public is not aware of these obstacles
that the deaf population face. As
the challenges that the deaf population face become worse and
the barrier between the deaf and
the hearing becomes greater, the awareness and the creation of
solutions needs to take place

faster. It is necessary that the public is aware of these
challenges so that they are knowledgeable
of the situations and focus as a society on creating possible
solutions. Research today does a
great job at pointing out the challenges the deaf population face,
but is flawed in the area of
providing solutions and making the public aware of these
occurrences. I intend to address this
gap in research with the research proposed in this document.
Social separation and neglect begin at an early age in life.
During school years, a child
that is deaf gets neglected by his or her class peers due to being
“different.” Yu-Han, Potmesil,
and Peters (2014) state, “Even deaf children who have good
spoken language and hearing aids
still face difficulties in social interactions, especially in noisy
places.” Although this is very
helpful in displaying the problems that persist in the deaf
population at an early age, the public
does not seem as if this is a problem, therefore no actions are
taking place in order to help the
continuing success in school and social life of deaf children.
Not only are the deaf being socially

separated in school, but separation is also taking place in the
work place. A surveyor from a
study conducted by Hayes and Linden (2012) reported being
“excluded from staff meetings” due
to being deaf and the company not having on-hand interpreters
ready to assist the deaf
employees. The lack of interpreters in the work place can
become a problem due to “equality in
the work place” not taking affect. The deaf population are being
stolen of their success left and
right and the public is not aware of this phenomena taking
place.
Not only is there a lack of interpreters in the work place, but
there is also a lack of
interpreters in the medical field. The communication of medical
information between a doctor
and patient is very important for someone’s health. If a patient
is deaf and lacks the availability
of an interpreter, medical information and understanding could
be lost throughout the
conversation and could ultimately lead to a life or deaf
situation. Researchers Cabral, Muhr, and

Savageau (2013) conducted a survey and a respondent stated
waiting in the ER for hours for a
interpreter to arrive becomes very “difficult and irritating.” The
lack of available interpreters in
the medical field can lead to a deadly situation.
Although all of the previous challenges are very important,
intimate partner violence
against women is the most horrifying and unknown. A study of
deaf women was conducted by
researchers Anderson, Leigh, and Lamar (2011) and respondents
stated that “not being able to
verbally resolve a disagreement” led to abuse by their partner.
This could be a deadly situation in
the deaf population that the public has no knowledge of. The
media and the government needs to
make this known in order to create proper precautions and safe
solutions.
Nonetheless, it is clear that the deaf population face multiple
challenges where
interpreters are not available and solutions are not being made.
The public seems to not be aware
of these occurrences, therefore lacking the ambition to eliminate
the social boundary between the

deaf and the hearing. In the section immediately following, I
explain a small-scale pilot study I
created on proving the lack of knowledge the public has on
these certain challenges the deaf
culture face on a daily basis.
Small-Scale Pilot Study Methods and Findings
Before creating a large-scale research centered toward focusing
on Social Services and
hospitals’ awareness and possible solutions of obstacles the
deaf population face, a small-scale
pilot study is beneficial to gather data on how aware the public
is on these challenges the deaf
culture face. For my small-scale study, I focused on the public.
The media and the government
does a phenomenal job of picking and choosing what they want
to be known to the public and
what they think is not important enough to advertise.
For my small-scale study I conducted a survey aimed towards
the public to collect data
on their knowledge of these occurrences. For the list of survey

questions please refer to
Appendix A. I anticipated that the public would not be aware of
these actions taking place and
wanted to prove the lack of knowledge the public really has on
the deaf population. With the
audience for my survey chosen, I then proceeded to the website
Qualtrics.com, a website to help
create my survey, and began creating my questions.
When completing my ten question survey, I then posted it to
my Facebook page. I chose
Facebook because I have a variety of different friends from
numerous different places. This
helped to aid in my small-scale pilot study because it not only
concludes data from the area I live
in, but data from a variety of different places, making the idea
of the lack of public awareness
true for around the world.
After posting my survey to my Facebook page, I waited 24
hours for people to respond.
After I received my results, I began to analyze my data. I only

received 13 responds but that was
enough to get a generalized idea of public awareness. According
to my survey, 54% of my
respondents reported knowing a deaf person and 46% of them
did not. Out of the 54% who knew
of a deaf person, only 27% of them reported knowing and using
American Sign Language to
communicate with them. Those who replied not knowing ASL,
reported that they used writing
notes, hand motions, other people, and reading lips to
communicate. 92% of my respondents
reported not being aware that deaf women face partner violence
almost daily and suggested that
ASL should be learned to break that communication barrier, a
health care facility to help aid in
the violent attacks, and awareness and education on the issue
could be advertised through classes
and social media. 92% of my participants also responded stating
that their job did not have an
on-hand interpreter in case of emergencies. This proves that
there is a desperate need of more
ASL interpreters in every work place to accommodate everyone
in the business including
employees and/or customers.

Although these are very helpful statistics, a further large-scale
study would be needed to
expand my horizon past Facebook friends on the awareness of
challenges the deaf culture face.
My primary focus would be on Social Services and their
awareness of these issues and multiple
hospitals around the world seeking whether or not they have on-
hand interpreters and how many.
The following section outlines how I would create this research
if additional and appropriate
resources were available to me.
Large-Scale Research Project Methods and Hypothesis
Because the data I collected in my small-scale study only
reflected on Facebook friends, I
proposed furthering the research with semi-structured
interviews with workers at social services
and hospitals around the United States, collecting data on
whether or not they are aware of these

issues and whether or not hospitals around the world have on-
hand interpreters. Interviewing
these places from all over the United States would broaden my
spectrum on public awareness
around the world, not just in small towns of Mississippi. My
research would further contribute to
the gap in public awareness and knowledge that the world has
on the deaf population.
Before starting my research, I would complete the IRB
paperwork. The role of the IRB is
to review all proposed research involving human subjects to
ensure that they are treated ethically
and that their rights and welfare are protected. Considering I
will be interviewing workers from
Social Services and hospitals, their answers need to be
protected so I would need to complete the
entire IRB application. I expect this process could take a few
weeks to process so I would get
started immediately.
Following my approval I would then begin contacting Social
Services and hospitals
throughout the United States and seek their approval for
participating in my research. Upon

approval of their participation, I would then set a date with each
organization of which we could
have our interview. After setting a date with each place, I would
begin my research. To limit
research expenses and save time, I would conduct a phone
interview if possible to collect my
data. I would first start with the Social Services I chose to pick
and then move into interviewing
the hospitals. I would do them separately in order to not get my
interview questions mixed up
and confused. Since structured interviews do not always go as
planned, I would need to make
sure I at least hit my important questions first. I expect each
interview to take at least an hour to
be completed. The questions I asked would be focused on the
awareness of these situations and
what precautions and safety measures are taking place to reduce
these issues. To see the list of
the interview questions, please refer to Appendix B. Following
the completion of interviewing
Social Services, I would begin interviewing the hospitals. I

would ask the interviewer to be
placed in a quiet room to reduce the possibility of
miscommunication due to hospitals being
noisy. I would expect the interview to also be about an hour in
length. The questions I would ask
would be focused on knowledge of the effects of
miscommunication in the medical field between
doctors and patients and ask them how available are on-hand
interpreters in their hospital and
how many (if any). To see the interview questions for the
hospitals, please refer to Appendix C.
After completing all of my interviews, I would then analyze my
data collected and compare
those findings to my small-scale pilot study. This would prove
that there is a gap in research
regarding obstacles faced by the deaf culture. This will prove
that yes, research is taking place on
the challenges that the deaf culture face, but the public is not
aware of these occurrences and
solutions are not taking place.
In order to conduct this research, I would need a lot of time in
order for me to call and
interview each place. Considering I would be conducting phone
call interviews, no expenses

would be needed, just a large amount of time, patience, and
cooperation.
Conclusion
Although researchers are doing a great job of providing
multiple issues that the
deaf population face, there is a gap in the research due to there
are no following solutions taking
place to account for these issues. There is much more research
that needs to be done in order to
create solutions for these problems and to make the public
aware of these problems. Although
my small-scale pilot study only had 13 participants, it still
provided a general outlook on how
unaware the public is about the challenges the deaf population
encounter on a daily basis. As
research indicates, these challenges can create a setback for the
deaf population, create social
barriers between the deaf and the hearing, and can be the cause
of a life or death situation. If
further research is taken place, I firmly believe that one day the

hearing population as a whole
will be aware of these issues and work to create solutions to
destroy the social barriers and help
to aid the deaf population.
References
Anderson, M., Leigh, I., & Samar, V. (2011) Intimate partner

violence against deaf women: a
review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 3, 200-206.
Cabral, L., Muhr, K., & Savageau, J. (2013). Perspectives of
people who are deaf and hard of
hearing on mental health, recovery, and peer support.
Community Ment Health J, 49, 649-
657. DOI 10.1007/s10597-012-9569-z
Haynes, S., & Linden, M. (2012). Workplace accommodations
and unmet needs specific to
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Disability and
Rehabilitation: Assistive
Technology, 5, 408-415.
http://dx.doi.org.umiss.idm.oclc.org/10.3109/17483107.2012.66
5977
Yu-Han, X., Potmesil, M., & Peters, B. (2014) Children who are
deaf or hard of hearing in
inclusive educational settings: a literature review on
interactions with peers. Journal, of
Deaf Studies and Deaf Communication, 4, 423-437.

Appendix A
Survey Questions for the Public
1. Do you know of a deaf person?
2. Is so, do you know and use American Sign Language which
allows you to communicate
with him/her?
3. If you replied no to the last question, how do you
successfully communicate with
him/her?
4. The deaf community face a number of obstacles daily. Were
you aware that a large
number of deaf women face intimate partner violence almost
daily?
5. In your opinion, what could be done to make this issue known
and solved?

6. Studies show that accommodations and needs are not being
met in the work place for the
hearing impaired. In a conducted research, one participant
stated, "It would be nice to
have an interpreter from time to time for staff meetings, from
which I am currently
exclude from due to hearing loss." Do you think this is fair?
7. If you work, at any job, do you have an available interpreter
on hand ready to sign to a
hearing impaired person if needed?
8. Studies show that miscommunication of medical information
to deaf patients happens
daily due to a large number of medical staff not knowing
American Sign Language.
Miscommunication of medical information could be a life or
death situation for the deaf
population. If you work in the medical field, do you know if
your office has an interpreter
on-hand ready to relay the medical information to the patient?
9. Studies show that isolation and neglection begin at any early
age due to having a hearing
impairment. Research states that, "A child who is deaf gets
neglected by his/her peers due

to being different. Even deaf children who have good spoken
language and hearing aids
face difficulties in social interactions, especially noisy places."
In your opinion, what
could be done in the school setting to help aid in the success,
socially and scholarly, for
the hearing impaired children?
10. Although these are only a few obstacles that the deaf culture
face, were you aware of any
of these at all?

Appendix B
Interview Questions for the Social Services Worker
1. What role do you play in for the deaf population?
2. Were you aware that deaf women are violently abused by
their intimate partner
almost daily?
3. If so, what precautions and safety measures are taking place
to ensure the safety of
these women? If not, in your opinion what could be done in
order to prevent this issue
from occurring?
4. Are there available support groups for the deaf women in the
community to attend
voluntarily?
5. If a known occurrence is happening with a particular person,
what actions are taken

place in order to stop the violence?
6. What do you do as a Social Service worker to make this issue
known to the public
and educate them on this problem?
Appendix C
Interview Questions for the Hospitals
1. Since you are working in the medical field, do you personally
know and use American
Sign Language when needed to communicate with a deaf
person?
2. Are there any on-hand interpreters that you know of in your
hospital? If so, how many?
3. If not, how long does it take for an interpreter to arrive?
4. If you had to guess, how often do you receive deaf patients?

5. When relaying medical information to a deaf patient, how
important is it in your opinion
to have an interpreter present?
6. Has a patient died in your hospital due to the lack of
doctors/nurses not knowing ASL?
7. In your opinion, how important is on-hand interpreters in the
medical field?
Homework Post 3: Values and Goals
Skill Practice Reflection: Think about the values and goals you
identified during the 100th birthday visualization and the values
you clarified in quiz section this past week. Use the values and
goals to help you think of a WOOP you’d like to work on this
week. Write a 1 page reflection responding to the following
prompts (1 pages double spaced).
· Complete a WOOP for a goal you have based on the following
four prompts. Remember to include all four parts of the WOOP,
putting particular focus on naming an internal obstacle and an
if/then statement for your plan.
· Wish: What is something that you wish for your future based
on the values and goals you have identified? This wish can be
longer term, but make sure to then also identify something for
within the next 4 weeks.
· Outcome: What would a specific outcome be if you were to
live out the above wish?
· Obstacle: What is an obstacle that keeps you from living in
line with your values? Name at least one internal barrier and
one external barrier.
· Plan: What is your plan for overcoming these obstacles and

barriers to live in line with your values? Make sure to include
an if/then statement (i.e. If you face "obstacle x", then you will
do ...) and then expand on how you will ensure you stick with
that plan. Be specific!
Class Activity Reflection: Reflect on your values clarification
practice during the end of class activity this week and complete
the following extension activity (see bullseye activity
document). Your response for this section should be about 1
page double spaced.
· Write a half page reflection on the values clarification activity
you completed in class. What was challenging about this
process? What was beneficial? How are your values you
identified influenced by your family or cultural values? Look to
the attached activity guide and respond to some of the questions
you discussed with your group. This response should be a half
page.
· Extension Activity (Bullseye Activity): The Bullseye Activity
will help you look at how you feel you are living up to these
values in different areas of your life. Use the Bull's Eye
Exercise Preview the document to practice clarifying values,
estimate the extent to which you are living consistent with your
values, and commit to engaging in at least four values-based
actions during the coming week. Download the activity and go
through it on your own. Complete the assignment and then
include a half page summary of what you found during the
activity in your post. Do not upload your actual bull's eye.
Gratitude Practice: Write a half a page about something that
happened or something you accomplished this week that you are
grateful for.
Lecture + Reading Reflection: Reflect on the previous lecture
and the assigned readings for next week and the associated
videos. Respond to the following prompts in a half page.
· What is one thing that resonated with you class on Wednesday,

particularly from the lecture material? What do you still have
questions about (if anything)?
· Identify one way you can see the content in the readings
helping you going forward.
Please review the Model Homework Post from the first
assignment as an example of what we are looking for!
GRADING STANDARDS
Your post is worth a possible 10 points. To receive the full 10
points for this post, you must respond to all four sections of
reflection and address all prompts fully, totaling around 3-4
double-spaced pages. Be honest; part of the goal of these posts
is to have an opportunity to receive feedback and support from
the TAs, who have experience with using these skills and
coaching on the use of them. Your grade is NOT based on how
“well” you used the skills, but rather on how much we can see
you reflected on the skills/content and have thought about how
it applies to your life. Incomplete or late responses will be
docked points.
Assignment #4: Research Prospectus
Purpose: The purpose of the research prospectus is to identify a
research problem or a focus in your study in which you feel
needs more research, and design a small-scale pilot study that
you will actually complete and a suggestion of a large scale
study and briefly describe what that may entail. You can state a
larger scale study should be conducted because of: 1) the
gaps/flaws/limitations of existing research that underscore the
need for further research, 2) the primary research you
completed for the small-scale pilot that demonstrates your
understanding of research design, and 3) the quality and
legitimacy of the study you are proposing. (The large scale

study you are proposing can be brief).
Audience: Faculty in your school or college who would be
acting as a jury reviewing undergraduate research proposals to
select one that would receive funding. Because you are writing
for not only faculty then, but also to try to obtain funding to
complete your proposed research project, you should be
particularly mindful of your audience’s needs and expectations
for a research proposal.
Process:
Step 1. You should continue to work with the same general
topic that was the focus of your annotated bibliography and
literature review, enabling you to draw on resources that you
previously found for those assignments. However, you may alter
your research question as needed so that it is appropriate for the
study you want to design.
Step 2. Referring back to what you identified as
gaps/flaws/limitations in the existing research, identify where
there is a need for further study, one that you would be
interested in investigating further. (If you haven’t found a
specific flaw that is okay – you can still suggest a need for
more research in a particular area.)
Step 3. Drawing on what you have learned about research
design throughout the semester, design a small pilot study: 1) a
small-scale pilot study that you will actually complete to collect
and analyze your own data, 2) suggest a need for a larger scale
study and that that may entail. (See “Design Small Scale Study”
document).
Step 4. Draft your essay, using the “Blueprint for Your
Research Prospectus” handout as a guide.
Format: The research prospectus should be approximately 6 -10
typed and double-spaced pages (the required title page, if using
APA style, and bibliography page(s) do not count toward this

requirement), conform to formatting guidelines (12 pt. Times
New Roman font, 1” margins, proper heading, etc.), and use
APA style or the documentation style of your field. For this
assignment you will need to include an abstract page, which
will count toward the page limit. The research prospectus
should consist of the following sections, all of which should be
labeled in the paper except for the Introduction with literature
review: 1) Abstract (½ page); 2) Introduction with literature
review (2 to 3 pages; cite at least 4 sources in this section); 3)
Small-Scale Pilot Study Methods and Findings (approximately 2
pages); 4) Propose a large scale study and briefly describe what
that may entail and explain why it is necessary 1 page; and 5)
Conclusion (½ page to 1 page). You may also have appendices.
Assessment: 30 - 35% of your final course grade

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