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Perhaps the most important message is to know your own limitations. It is relatively easy to muddle by with a person who is perceived as "disabled" and who has to make all the adjustments; or to continue when it seems there are no interpreters available. However, this is a mistake even if the Deaf person seems to be happy to continue. From the perspective of the Deaf person, you are just the latest in a long series of hearing people with whom they have to interact.
The most obvious help is an interpreter; but perhaps more significant is the need for you to know more about Deafness and Deaf people - this is why these materials have been created. Read the Q&A sections and also the 10 things area where you will find a great deal of useful information which will prepare you better for meeting with Deaf people. Do not make the mistake of thinking that Deaf people are somewhere on a continuum starting at hearing-ness (your own position) - their experiences have been very different and as a result their reactions and interpretations of your actions and communication may well be different. (Back to top)
Eye contact with the Deaf person
One of the biggest problem for the counsellor is the need to fill in forms or record cards. With a hearing client, there is little problem - the interaction does not require continued eye contact. However, to break off eye contact with the Deaf person when he/she is giving information is rude and will increasingly irritate the Deaf person, leading to shorter and shorter replies. Even when the Deaf person gives more information than can be remembered, it is better not to break eye contact in order to write it down.
This obviously poses problems and requires a good deal of pre-planning to deal with the interview. Either the counsellor limits the extent of the questions or provides a copy of the form to the Deaf person.
One possibility is to sign/explain on the need to write down and the likelihood that the counsellor will need to break off .... However, the likelihood is that this will affect the flow of the interview. (Back to top)
It may seem that the third person in your meeting is the answer to all your needs and that if an interpreter is present , you can leave the interpreter to do all the hard work of cross-cultural negotiation as well as translating your message. Unfortunately, the interpreter is also a hearing person and the ability to make this cultural transfer varies a great deal. (Back to top)
Hearing assessment may not work for Deaf people
In fact, it is almost certain that all standard measurement which is carried out on hearing people is unsuitable for Deaf people, even if it is translated to sign language. It is more appropriate to adopt a more open approach to determine job suitability or to deal with problems in the workplace. That is more open questions on capacities and more closed questions on experience and background.
Where scores on a test are required by convention, law or by agreed practice, then it should be clearly stated that the test was carried out is such and such a way and that the results can be taken only as a guide - not as a definitive measurement. (Back to top)
Sometimes questions cannot be asked in the same format in sign language as in spoken language form.
Typically open-ended questions may need exemplars to make sense in sign language. "what course would suit you? College, evening class, on-the-job - which?"
In one case, where there was a dispute about different versions of events, a Deaf person was asked, "Do you know the difference between a truth and a lie?"
The Deaf person answered, "What true?"
The problem here relates to the way in which the sign "true" was used - it is not in sign language an opposite of "lie".
As a result the format of the questions and the way of asking them should be checked with a Deaf advisor beforehand - more than a simple translation is required. (Back to top)
It is good practice in any case to write things down, but for Deaf people especially it is vital that all decisions, plans, appointments are in written or in visual form. While hearing people can make notes and still carry on a conversation, Deaf people have to concentrate on the signing (whether it is the counsellor or the interpreter). This makes it harder to retain the information. If you think of your own experience of listening to a second language learner (maybe not very skilled) trying to speak to you to give you instructions (in your own language), then you will realise that you spend so much time trying to figure out the meaning and reassembling the message from the poor grammar, that you will find it hard to retain the detailed instructions. (Back to top)
It is a recurrent theme in all approaches to work with Deaf people but it is especially important in dealing with Deaf people. Be aware that all the information for the Deaf person comes from the visual world. It is important that you use all visual means - concrete objects, demonstrations, video, flip-charts, whiteboards in order to discuss and to illustrate. For much of the time this will work well with hearing people and so it will be generally good practice - however, beware of the trap of beginning to talk (or sign) while looking away or while the Deaf person has their eye gaze on the visual illustration. (Back to top)
The two faces of facial expression
Sign language communication uses facial expression in two ways: the first is to illustrate emotion and manner (how things happen or how a person reacts) and the second is more fundamental to the structure of sign language as it carries much of the grammatical information in sign language.
This means that sign language users at times display emotion as it would be seen in spoken language conversation but at other times, the facial expression has very different shape and articulation. In some situations, people have interpreted such facial expression in a negative way to be associated with lack of intellectual capacity or as poor expression. In simple studies of this, we found that hearing observers rated Deaf sign language users who utilised these grammatical mouth patterns and facial expressions, less positively than other signers who simply used facial expression for emotion. In effect, people tend to rate more positively what they seems familiar to them.
Clearly this is a major issue for the counselling situation. Although a counsellor may use an interpreter to transfer the message meaning, the counsellor will still use basic person perception form an opinion of the Deaf person. Where the facial expression used does not match what is known to the counsellor, then there is a danger of underestimating the competence of the Deaf person. There is no easy answer to this - seek advice or learn more about sign language. (Back to top)
It is self evident that the best person to act as counsellor is someone who shares the same cultural and experiential background. We would not believe the ideal counsellor for person in England would be someone from China (and vice versa). Wherever possible it makes sense to have a Deaf person as part of the team or even as the lead counsellor. In the counselling scenarios, we have shown a Deaf counsellor working with the Deaf person.
Sometimes, people argue that the Deaf person may not have access to all the opportunities in employment or to all the information that a hearing counsellor has. Sometimes, people claim that the Deaf person in a counselling role may be less qualified than a hearing person. In fact, some organisations may reject the Deaf person because he/she does not have the same "high" level qualifications as the hearing counsellor. As a result, many organisations may be reluctant to employ a Deaf counsellor.
We consider that this misses the crucial point - the Deaf counsellor is qualified where the hearing counsellor is not - in terms of language, experience and cultural match. The richness of information available to a Deaf counsellor in interaction is significantly greater than that which can be accessed by the hearing counsellor. As a result, we consider that a Deaf counsellor or adviser is a key member of the team in dealing with Deaf clients. (Back to top)
Hearing colleagues may often find difficulty in working with a Deaf counsellor. All of the information prepared here focuses on reducing the difficulties. However, one aspect may be seen as crucial to the counselling process and this may produce a problem. If standardised or jargonised written reports are a key part of the assessment or support for the client, it may be found that the Deaf counsellor has difficulty in matching the expectations placed on hearing counsellors. It should be relatively obviously why. While the hearing person works within their own cultural and language framework, the Deaf counsellor is having to cope with hearing practices and then hearing ideas about what constitutes significant aspects of behaviour, achievement and so on, and then translate these into a format in their non-native language. The Deaf counsellor is having to act as translator as well as counsellor. This may lead to reports which are "safe" - ie written in simpler English with less inference. Hearing people may consider there to have been less analysis while the Deaf counsellor may see the written report as only a support to their sign language account of the client (to be given in case conference or meeting). The temptation is for hearing professionals to see the Deaf report as less significant. This is a mistake and the hearing-led team needs to be careful to explore fully the meaning of the report from the Deaf colleague. (Back to top)