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Pocono Record - ESU prof wants to hear from Pa. deaf
A local professor is doing the first demographic survey in 25 years of deaf and hard-of-hearing people throughout the state.
The results will be used by government and nonprofits to better target services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, according to Jeffrey Weber, professor of public administration at East Stroudsburg University, who is conducting the survey.
"The survey is important because of accessibility and ensuring equal opportunity for all people," Weber said.
The data gathered will give policy makers a clearer sense of the contours of the population and what its needs are, which can better inform how public policy dollars are spent, he said.
Hearing impaired people have not been surveyed as a distinct and separate category since the U.S. Census of 1980. At the time, Pennsylvania's deaf and hard-of-hearing population was 326,000, and it has most likely grown along with the general population since then.
Since that time, discrete studies of the population and the services available have been done on the state and national level. But none has plumbed socio-economic and demographic data statewide to the extent that Weber's will. This emphasis should help improve services and advocacy, he said.
Due to budget and labor constraints, Weber is producing 5,000 copies of the study, a sampling that he will use to project the broader size of the hearing impaired population in the state.
The survey asks 27 questions. Some are about demographics, such as age, occupation, education, living situation and income. Others focus on matters specific to being deaf and hard-of-hearing: use of American Sign Language, interpreters and assistive devices, and what the respondent's relationship is to deaf culture — a term that, to some among the deaf, connotes a sense of pride and communal identity based in sign language.
Hard-of-hearing people outnumber the deaf by a factor of 12, according to some estimates. But the deaf population also tends to be better organized than the hard-of-hearing, whose members sometimes don't identify themselves as belonging to that group.
The net result of both trends is that there are gaps in services for both deaf and hard-of-hearing people: a shortage of qualified sign language interpreters in the state — there are 200 statewide, Weber said — movie theaters that show open-captioned movies, and a lack of insurance coverage for hearing aids.
Weber hopes to use networks within deaf culture to his advantage. Part of his survey asks for the names and contact information for other people in the community, which Weber hopes will help him extend the study's reach.
Weber, who was appointed last month to the state's Advisory Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, has a personal interest in the study. His hearing began deteriorating substantially about four years ago, partly because of genetic factors and partly due to damage sustained over his 10 years in the Army.
The survey, which will cost about $25,000, is financed by grants from the State System of Higher Education and ESU.
For information, e-mail Jeffrey Weber at jweber@po-box.esu.edu.
A local professor is doing the first demographic survey in 25 years of deaf and hard-of-hearing people throughout the state.
The results will be used by government and nonprofits to better target services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, according to Jeffrey Weber, professor of public administration at East Stroudsburg University, who is conducting the survey.
"The survey is important because of accessibility and ensuring equal opportunity for all people," Weber said.
The data gathered will give policy makers a clearer sense of the contours of the population and what its needs are, which can better inform how public policy dollars are spent, he said.
Hearing impaired people have not been surveyed as a distinct and separate category since the U.S. Census of 1980. At the time, Pennsylvania's deaf and hard-of-hearing population was 326,000, and it has most likely grown along with the general population since then.
Since that time, discrete studies of the population and the services available have been done on the state and national level. But none has plumbed socio-economic and demographic data statewide to the extent that Weber's will. This emphasis should help improve services and advocacy, he said.
Due to budget and labor constraints, Weber is producing 5,000 copies of the study, a sampling that he will use to project the broader size of the hearing impaired population in the state.
The survey asks 27 questions. Some are about demographics, such as age, occupation, education, living situation and income. Others focus on matters specific to being deaf and hard-of-hearing: use of American Sign Language, interpreters and assistive devices, and what the respondent's relationship is to deaf culture — a term that, to some among the deaf, connotes a sense of pride and communal identity based in sign language.
Hard-of-hearing people outnumber the deaf by a factor of 12, according to some estimates. But the deaf population also tends to be better organized than the hard-of-hearing, whose members sometimes don't identify themselves as belonging to that group.
The net result of both trends is that there are gaps in services for both deaf and hard-of-hearing people: a shortage of qualified sign language interpreters in the state — there are 200 statewide, Weber said — movie theaters that show open-captioned movies, and a lack of insurance coverage for hearing aids.
Weber hopes to use networks within deaf culture to his advantage. Part of his survey asks for the names and contact information for other people in the community, which Weber hopes will help him extend the study's reach.
Weber, who was appointed last month to the state's Advisory Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, has a personal interest in the study. His hearing began deteriorating substantially about four years ago, partly because of genetic factors and partly due to damage sustained over his 10 years in the Army.
The survey, which will cost about $25,000, is financed by grants from the State System of Higher Education and ESU.
For information, e-mail Jeffrey Weber at jweber@po-box.esu.edu.