Episode Eleven | Being Deaf in Mainstream Education

[natalyadell]

I could write a whole essay about my mixed school experiences but that would be boring.

I had good experiences like Sarah where I was asked what I needed and offered good choices like 1:1 extra support with the tutor writing good notes to help me remember afterwards and bad experiences where I was forced to use unhelpful/isolating (and teachers yelling into) radio aids, had my hearing aid taken off me once and got called thick in public for asking for slower speaking and repeats... My mum did set fire to the teacher/school who took my hearing aid off me mind... Good old 1980s teachers who were probably trained in the 50s!

I found quality of my access always linked to the ethos of the educational institution; good ethos of kindness, good pastoral care, recognition of diversity and caring about meeting needs no matter that they were different meant good deaf access. Other places resented me for being different, having different needs or doing things differently and issues with bullying and very closed thinking - they had poor deaf access. Deaf access is an ethos, as you both say, "ask the child" "observe the child" offer the child things they may not know exist, let them try different things (different types of lessons might need different support). A bad ethos cannot be fixed by a SENCO even if they're brilliant cos they can't change the ethos/environment.

I know my education was very variable:
Infants, bad ethos a few good teachers, good ToDs.
Juniors, good ethos, almost all good teachers, good ToDs at first, then bad ToDs.
Highschool, bad ethos, some very good teachers but a lot of mediocre/bad ones too, dreadful ToD who I sacked by refusing to attend.
College, good ethos, good teachers only 1 bad teacher who was just a numpty, no ToDs.

[smallhandsbigintentions]

Thank you for doing this video. I threw my hands in the air when you mentioned autonomy! Sometimes it is really difficult to advocate for a deaf child in mainstream education, when the support teams and systems don't fully agree or match up with what you are trying to do. With all the best intentions, sometimes they just get it so very wrong. You can be a fierce advocate and fight for them to have autonomy but if the setting you are in feels that it isn't what they would recommend, it can be a bit of a battle. It will be worth it in the end when that child suddenly smashes through those boundaries though. So for anyone watching that may be hearing and supporting a deaf child, don't give up fighting for their autonomy! Even if it feels like it causes a bit of friction. Nobody ever made a change worth making by staying quiet.

[lydiajademackett]

I grew up in mainstream schools and I generally had good experiences with them. I always had an LSA helper for every lesson except for P.E and other physical lessons, always taking notes for me. But I hated wearing my radio aids because I was always embarrassed of them, being the only deaf person and it didn't really do anything for me. I still relied heavily on lip reading so I didn't see the point in them and I told this so many times but I felt I wasn't being listened to and would get told off slightly if I didn't bring them to classes. Funny thing is they were hearing and just assumed it worked for me. Other than that, I still did well at school.