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12. Into the Future: Implications for Research and Practice
- Gallaudet University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
12 Into the Future: New Directions for Research and Practice “What would you like to draw?” “Is it my decision?” “If you want.” “My decision?!” —Interview with Danny, age nine Perhaps one of the most meaningful elements of this research was that the children told us in their own spirited voices what was important to them. Here, they had the chance to share their stories and images of their lifeworlds. The children were the artists, the builders, the creators, and the teachers of the lessons in this book. This study represents a new direction in research, one that values the participation of deaf and hard of hearing children. Research that respects the participation of the people it seeks to understand needs to continue if we truly want to comprehend the multiple meanings of being deaf or hard of hearing. This direction is critical if we want to gain insight into the meanings and experiences that children derive from the policies, programs, philosophies, attitudes, relationships, and other environmental elements that society presents to them. 224 Professionals in a variety of fields could be led to new practices by seeking the children’s perspectives. I hope this book will help professionals understand that the children have their own views of their lifeworlds and that their participation, their strengths, and their perspectives should be valued and their uniqueness respected. Strengths In contrast to the problem focus of much of our literature in deafness , these children’s stories showed us that they have many strengths. One of the messages herein is that we need to attend to and respect the strengths of these children, which includes their ability to “tell it like it is” and to be our teachers. It is time for us to move away from the negative images and expectations that society at large and many professionals who work with these children hold of them. These negative images have included the notion that deaf children have low self-esteem, mostly troubled images of themselves and others, primarily distorted relationships with the world, and a life full of negative experiences. While the research presented in this book showed that some uncomfortable experiences and relationships do exist, it is important to recognize these children were mostly happy and had many affirming experiences, comfortable relationships, confident images of their future, and positive pathways for transcending whatever unpleasant experiences arise. As discussed in chapter 2, existential theory suggests that people have the freedom and responsibility to transcend whatever uncomfortable or alienating experiences occur in life (Frankl, 1969). The pathways of the children in this study show that they use that freedom and to creatively or defiantly transcend whatever uncomfortable or alienating experiences they have and to create positive experiences and meanings. For centuries we have spent so much time arguing over the right way to raise deaf children and the right language and educational approaches to use that we have forgotten that each child is unique. While these children were able to tell us about their similarities, they were also able to tell us about their many differences, and our programs, policies, philosophies, and models need to take these into consideration. Culture, language, Into the Future: 225 [3.81.97.37] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 18:10 GMT) biology, cognition, legislation, socioeconomics, education, communication , technology, family, social environments, and time all play an important part in these children’s lives and their perspectives on their lifeworlds. These ecological elements were preserved in the children’s profiles in each of their chapters and explained in chapter 2. We need to recognize that these children have many strengths that we must address and illuminate. This forces a change in traditional ethnocentric views and encourages the adoption of a strengths perspective. Research and Further Study This research demonstrated the potential of qualitative methods to overcome some of the limitations of traditional research and overcome the tendency for researchers to collect data from others in deaf children’s lives rather than from the children themselves. It demonstrated these children’s capabilities in communicating their realities through qualitative methods and phenomenological interviews . This study attempted to acknowledge the personal and professional self of the researcher in the context of this investigative process. In any study, the biases and the context of the researcher’s self must be acknowledged and controlled. Those who read research findings on deaf and hard of hearing people also need to be informed of these and other ecological contexts that exist in the research process...