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How Sex Education Affects Our Lives
As a preface, this project discusses the obstacles faced by Deaf adolescents during puberty (approx. 12-25 years of age) as a result of the lack of education they receive about safe and healthy sex, relationships, and more. From this, one learns of the major gap in education and communication that exists between hearing and Deaf teens, and the consequences that come from that.
Past research has shown that Deaf individuals are often targeted as victims for sexual abuse, and this project aims to discover the different explanations as to why, and hopefully, how to prevent further victimization in the future. In sum, Deaf teens are deprived of accurate and sufficient sex education both from the school system, and through their social groups due to the broken bridge of language. To be clear, Deaf individuals are not seen as less than because of this, simply, Deaf individuals use a different language, a visual not an auditory language, American Sign Language. This bridge can be fixed, however, with the inclusion of interpreters or alternative approaches to sex education, again from both the public-school system, and social groups (such as hearing parents learning sign language and effectively interacting and communicating directly with their children or other Deaf individuals). Unfortunately, interpreters are often not used, clarity is not confirmed, and the Deaf teen goes without critical knowledge that can profoundly affect their lives.
Due to lack of sex education, Deaf individuals becomes the victims of sexual abuse in different ways: they can become victims of intimate partner violence (IPV), contract HIV/AIDS, or be abused in both consensual and non-consensual relationships. Abuse from family members, school faculty, religious organizations, politicians, law enforcement, health professionals, and more stem from a failed attempt at teaching sex ed. Because of this, many Deaf teens rely on their peers and trusted family members for the information they need, and often times, the information is incorrect or misrepresented (how one contracts HIV, what it means to be bisexual, etc). This means, many Deaf teens are being let down two times by their most reliable mediums for knowledge. More needs to be done.
Luckily, there are many resources such as textbooks, studies, documentaries, and more in the Deaf community that aim to educate and support those in their community to protect from possible miscommunications or absence of communication. However, this means that more needs to be done in the hearing world in order to stop this systemic oppression based on auditory language ability, and hopefully, this project will help shed some light on different ways to create and promote change, that will eventually lead to the death of sexual abuse towards Deaf individuals.
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People are uncomfortable with those who are different, and deafness appears to frighten the uninitiated into a ‘shock-withdrawal-paralysis’ reaction that makes optimal service to the [Deaf] individual difficult.
Kathryn Meadow
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Language barriers, inaccessible media, and able-ist stigma continue to prevent Deaf youth from accessing both formal and informal opportunities for sex ed.
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Development of Maturity in Deaf Children
In this article, although a bit dated, asked the questions “Why are Deaf teens more emotionally immature compared to hearing teens?” and “Is emotional immaturity in Deaf teens a result of the absence of auditory stimulation, or something else?” Previously, studies had indicated that Deaf teens were more “egocentric, impulsive, and suggestive”, and attributed this to their inability to communicate with the hearing world, and as such, to promote auditory training in Deaf teens in order to help them develop appropriately. However, this study completely turned old theories on their heads.
The methods used in this study were that two groups were studied, Deaf teens with Deaf parents and Deaf teens with hearing parents, and the observation of these teens in the areas of maturity, defined as a compilation of three things: responsibility, maturity, and independence. The findings were that the Deaf children with Deaf parents scored extremely well, showing high levels of “emotional maturity” based on those three indicators while the Deaf teens with hearing parents scored low, but also almost identical to one another in terms of “emotional maturity”. This of course, all stemming from a Behaviorist perspective.
In the end, however, the researchers discovered that both groups were deprived of auditory stimulation, yet one group scored very high, and the only difference was in their environment. From there, the researchers began to make notes about the environments and concluded that, “the ways in which family and school setting may be important for the development of the mature Deaf individual” (Meadow, 1972). From there, one must consider where teens, Deaf or hearing, obtain their information and opportunities for emotional maturity, and how much of that plays into the gap in communication based on auditory abilities. Not that simply because Deaf teens can’t hear the information taught or shown to them in life, but that Deaf teens are being ignored in those situations due to the other party not engaging due to their inability to communicate with a Deaf teen. Those who can communicate or attempt to communicate allow the message to be received and understood, therefore, the lesson learned.
Again, although the research was dated, it was monumental for the time to take the right step in understanding childhood education and the obstacles that Deaf teens face that hearing teens do not have to face. A critique for this author would be to include individuals of different races and auditory levels for a more representative study group for the population. Deafness is a culture as well as a language, but there are other cultures that exist in Deaf teens lives such as race, ethnicity, and heritage. That could definitely affect the results of this study.
Meadow, Kathryn P. (1972). Development of Maturity in Deaf Children. Exceptional Children, 38(6), 461-467.
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Pictured is a teacher educating her students on HIV/AIDS, and how many misconceptions and misunderstandings there are about HIV/AIDS.
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The Deaf have struggled for decades with such issues as equal access in medical and social service areas, self-determination in the classroom and the workplace, and a general sense of societal acceptance without cultural discrimination.
James Peinkofer
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HIV Education for the Deaf, a Vulnerable Minority
Author James Peinkofer aims to address the correlation between sex education on HIV and AIDS and the teenage and adult Deaf community. Peinkofer then approached each factor as they occur in the hearing world, and the Deaf world, hypothesizing these differences could be the explanations to the recent findings of studies done by his colleagues. The article breaks down the communication opportunities in both hearing and Deaf individuals into home acquired knowledge, school acquired knowledge, and social acquired knowledge. The theory stated by Peinkofer (1994), “Because of information gained during the research for this article, I believe that the 1 to 250 HIV infection ratio is much greater among the deaf”.
The data in this article found is overwhelmingly quantitative, mentioning statistics of HIV/AIDS sufferers among hearing individuals and among Deaf individuals, the comparison of media sec education barriers for hearing versus the Deaf, and also number of enrolled students in higher secondary education as Deaf being extremely low (college students have less than 2% formal sexual education in the past). However, this article fails to explicitly state the findings of each of these studies thoroughly, leaving the job for obtaining the information about the studies up to the reader. No one particular study was performed to get any quantitative data, for the study group hasn’t ever existed or been studied before. Therefore, the author draws conclusions from the other articles quantitative data, and with the input of his own qualitative data with in depth research of the focus group and its’ culture.
The findings in this author, are again, hypothetical, since no actual study was done, but rather an extensive review and critique of other studies hypothesizes a finding: The Deaf community lacks access to information about HIV/AIDs, and as a result, the majority suffer from it. In addition to this finding, the author urges the reader to understand the severity of this, but makes their intentions clear on simply wanting to educate the Deaf by providing and mentioning existing resources to the Deaf community about sex education and HI/AIDS prevention. The article concludes after evaluating the average Deaf individuals’ opportunities for communication and the impacts culture has on hearing individuals and Deaf individuals increases the likelihood of Deaf individuals being afflicted with this deadly decease because they are socially at higher risk.
Some pretty large critiques for this author would be in several instances throughout the article there were parts missing if the intent was true education of the Deaf when not stating what films were made for the Deaf regarding safe sex practices, or how the Deaf had to deal with discrimination in school, or the workplace. Those two examples being how the author failed to educate the hearing reader, and the Deaf reader. In addition, the author should conduct a study of a sample size in order to provide direct quantitative data to further support his theory. The focus group is clearly laid out; adolescent, Deaf, mainstreamed teenagers and their knowledge of sex, sexual health, and more.
Overall, despite the lack of a focus group researched, this article provided me with the ability to create that study, and add to the literature of this subject: that Deaf individuals are being let down tremendously by society and its institutions on the subject of safe sex practices. It answers the questions that relate to my final project of how the lack of sexual education provided to Deaf teenagers after a Deaf individual’s socioeconomic status. The questions answered in this article were, “Do children in mainstreamed school get adequate education for sex education? How to children get accurate sex education?” This article is a definite solid foundation for my final project as a good step in the right direction, and by providing some insight on Deaf culture. This helps to better understand the topic, and be able to ask questions in a study that actually aim to answer what the study is searching for.
James R. Peinkofer. (1994). HIV Education for the Deaf, a Vulnerable Minority. Public Health (1974-), 109(3), 390-396.
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The effectiveness of [peer education] among youth may be associated with their susceptibility to peer influences as they go through a stage in their life when they find it difficult to trust, communicate, or identify with adults.
Oyedunni Osowole and Oladimeji Oladepo
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Effect of Peer Education on Deaf Secondary School Students’ HIV/AIDS Knowledge
This article studied the knowledge that deaf students have and the origins of that information categorized as AIDS education and peer education. It found that the majority of deaf students obtain their knowledge about sex and HIV/AIDS is through peer education, and that knowledge isn’t as reliable. Finally, Osowole and Oladepo conclude what society can do now to help spread awareness of HIV/AIDS to all susceptible adolescents.
The theories or hypothesis tested in this study were, “While majority of these educational programs has targeted apparently normal adolescents, the sensory handicapped (deaf) seemed to have received little to no education in Nigeria. To bridge this gap, this study was carried out to assess the effectiveness of peer education strategy in passing AIDS information to deaf secondary students” (Osowole and Oladepo). The research question was can it be deduced that before a deaf peer educator decides to perform, he/she has to consider her attitude towards peer education and his/her belief of what other people think about his/her role as a peer educator. The researcher seeks to see the correlation between statistics of deaf students with HIV/AIDS to hearing students’ statistics of HIV/AIDS.
The study sought to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data which they got through focus groups interviews and structured questionnaire, respectively. The findings were then inputted into a computerized system where the answers to the questionnaires were randomized, coded, and more. The findings of this study were that most of the respondents in both groups (52.8% intervention, 64.8% control) reported having a boyfriend/girlfriend at a baseline and at post-intervention. Further analysis showed that more than a quarter in both groups had had sex before. The mean age in which hearing students started to engage in sexual activity was around 14 years, while deaf students mean age was around 15 (Osowole and Oladepo, 2000). From there, the researchers attempted to get an accurate perception of contracting HIV/AIDS from these adolescent groups, and that being both groups responded to having through not a lot of worry contracting AIDS.
As much as I love this article, there is a very large discrepancy as to what the perceptions of AIDS are to teenagers of two completely different continents, that have varying amounts of citizens that have the disease, so their viewpoints of it naturally going to be different. If there was a large amount of suffers in the United States of mono and a small number of suffers of mono in Italy, one country might learn to think of it as ‘the kissing disease’ while the other labels it ‘the killer flu’. The majority of sufferers of HIV/AIDS are located in Africa, therefore, the inhabitants may view it differently and not be so anxious about getting it.
In relation to my research project, this study introduces the idea of perceptions of sexual diseases in different cultures, access to sex education in relation to socioeconomic status, and how adolescents who are deaf rely very heavily on the public education system to provide them with adequate sexual health education. And thus far, they are failing to do that. This article answers the questions, “How do adolescents get their sexual education?” and “How old and how many adolescents engage in sexual activity?” Good article to have as a basis or extra viewpoint on the issues of teenage pregnancy and sexual activity.
Osowole, O., & Oladepo, O. (2000). Effect of Peer Education on Deaf Secondary School Students' HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Sexual Behavior. African Journal of Reproductive Health / La Revue Africaine De La Santé Reproductive, 4(2), 93-103.
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We found an increased occurrence of sexual abuse for Deaf children, often when attending a special school for the Deaf. It seems that the schools for the Deaf may develop a certain culture where assaulting younger pupils is not regarded as a serious crime.
Marit Kvam
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