Jillio
Many times I look for good statistics about deaf employment in the US but I never find useful information. A Gally Library page says one problem is the US Census puts deaf/HoH and blind in the same category so no separate statistics for deaf/HoH.
So I don't have answers and stopped because my keyboard is dying but a little information:
From Dallas Otolaryngology Associates Cochlear Implant Program:
Facts and Myths Regarding Deafness - Facts
***
So these stats are from a CI program***
- Deaf individuals earn only 50% to 70% of what their hearing peers earn, losing an average of $320,000 in earnings during their lifetime.
- Over 50% of deaf adults earn less than $25,000 per year.
- Forty-two percent of deaf adults between 18 and 44 years of age are unemployed.
- Seventy percent of deaf individuals rely on government sponsored insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
- A small minority of deaf students complete deaf education programs prepared for independence in adulthood; 60% face either unemployment or severe underemployment.
---
From Hands & Voices:
ACOUSTICS AND SOCIALIZATION
Estimates of the economic burden (in 1990 dollars) of childhood hearing loss (which reportedly have been used in actual settlements) suggest a lifetime loss of income in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, along with significant additional special living and medical expenses
---
From the National Center on Low-Incidence Disabilities:
STATISTICAL FACT SHEET
National research for students who are deaf or hard of hearing indicates that the average student with a hearing loss graduates from high school with reading comprehension skills at approximately the fourth grade level (e.g., Allen, 1986; CADS, 1991; Traxler, 2000). Furthermore, approximately 20% (some 2,000 annually) of students who are deaf or hard of hearing leave school with a reading level at or below second grade (Dew, 1999).
56,179 individuals in the United States receive Social Security disability benefits because of deafness (Social Security Administration, 2004)
The percentage of federal workforce who is deaf has dropped from 6,207 employees in FY 1994 to 4,796 in FY 2003, for a net change of -10.66% of the total federal workforce (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2003).
---
From International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care (2000), 16: 1120-1135 Cambridge University Press:
THE SOCIETAL COSTS OF SEVERE TO PROFOUND HEARING LOSS IN THE UNITED STATES
Severe to profound hearing loss is expected to cost society $297,000 over the lifetime of an individual. Most of these losses (67%) are due to reduced work productivity, although the use of special education resources among children contributes an additional 21%. Life time costs for those with prelingual onset exceed $1 million.
---
In the UK - from Youth.Hear-it.org:
15 percent unemployment among hearing impaired people
In the 25-45 age group 22 percent of deaf or hard-of-hearing people are unemployed. This is more than four times the unemployment rate for people with normal hearing in the same age group.
-70 percent of the respondents in the survey said their deafness had prevented them from getting a job.
- 68 percent felt that looking for work was a problem because their communication needs were not understood.
- 52 percent said that they had been prevented from pursuing further training or education due to their hearing loss or lack of communication services.
-74 percent of the respondents said that opportunities for promotion were fewer than for their hearing colleagues.
-60 percent said their colleagues did not understand their hearing problems.
---
Depressing and scary information. I don't understand why no good information is available about US deaf/HoH employment rate, average income, unemployment rate, underemployment rate. Just a lot of sentences about so many deaf/HoH unemployed or underemployed without research articles. And a lot of research articles on deaf/HoH drug use, violence, poor speech, poor reading, school dropout, mental illness etc.
