Dismantling Audist Injustice and Creating Equitable Opportunities for Language Development

• In Event: Cross-Disciplinary Language Development in Transnational Contexts

Abstract

Mandatory universal newborn hearing screening in the United States means that the families are informed of the child’s hearing abilities much earlier than in the past. The information is often accompanied with an urgency on the decisions the families need to make on the mode to use for communicating with the child. The high stakes communication decisions have long-term implications for the outcome of the child’s linguistic, cognitive, social-emotional, and educational developments. The families are almost always referred to the medical and education professionals who are audist in orientation. The paper will discuss the findings from parents on what they wished they were informed about during the critical time of decision making.

Authors

• Marlon H. Kuntze, California School for the Deaf

• Julie Rems-Smario, California School for the Deaf

• Laura T. Petersen, California School for the Deaf