Policy Gaps.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) “guarantees students with a disability the right to a free and appropriate public education that is tailored to meet their individual needs in the least restrictive environment” (Schwartz et al. 2022, 1). However, this law doesn’t cover students older than 21 years of age and makes no distinction between Deaf American citizens and refugees. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) signed in 2015, reaffirms America’s commitment to equal opportunity for all students. However, this law does not support adult learners. Still, it is also ineffective for Deaf New Americans to advocate for their children’s educational needs since they are largely unaware of their rights.

And although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires educational institutions to provide ASL interpreters for Deaf students, if the Deaf students do not already know ASL, this is also an ineffective solution. The Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) of 2008 “excludes refugees with disabilities who arrive with limited or no formal education” as there is no provision for job skills training, let alone a college degree (Ibid., 3). Furthermore, some Deaf New Americans arrive without exposure to any shared language. These individuals need an entirely different and customized set of support.

This issue is concerning because there is no means of legal support for Deaf New Americans to obtain educational enrichment or even linguistic support in their native sign language. U.S. educational policies and practices for Deaf New Americans “must account for their lack of formal education due to the failure of their home country to properly educate these refugees in their native language” (Schwartz et al. 2022, 16).

The lack of appropriate educational policies is not exclusive to the U.S. and reflects pervasive shortcomings in Deaf education worldwide. The study’s authors recommend implementing an international mandate to improve Deaf education in the home countries of refugees to obtain a meaningful education. Sign language education is needed, but so are classes for history, science, math, and the native language of the refugee’s home country. The authors also suggest that the World Bank and United Nations put this issue on their agenda, including “the provision of Deaf educators trained in pedagogy and sign language” (Schwartz et al. 2022, 16).

Differing Perspectives on Gainful Employment.

The National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes reported that “In 2017, only 53.3% of deaf people were employed, compared to 75.8% of hearing people. This is an employment gap of 22.5%” (Schwartz et al. 2022, 4). According to the World Health Organization, “adults with hearing loss also have a much higher unemployment rate” (Ibid.). However, many people with hearing loss who are employed have lower grade jobs than the rest of the workforce (Ibid.). This situation is compounded further for Deaf New Americans.

Exclusion from formal education both in America and in their countries of origin can inhibit Deaf New Americans for a lifetime. Job candidates were told they needed to be “fluent in sign language and understand written English” to receive employment (Schwartz et al. 2022, 12). However, many VR programs will not pay for the education or tutoring needed to obtain these skills and claim they are focused solely on employment. If VR facilitates a cleaning or entry-level position for a Deaf New American, “gainful employment” is achieved, and no other steps are necessary. However, only when the refugees acquire English reading and writing skills will they be able to obtain gainful employment and be in a position to support their children in American schools.

Careers impact our entire lives, including how we spend our time, where we can live, opportunities for our families, and our health. VR counselors’ caseloads are sky-high and resources are limited. However, if the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) took a more holistic view of vocational services and their long-term impact, then the inclusion funding approval for ASL and English education could be automatic, and VR clients could be better served.

Lack of Tailored and Affordable Curriculum.

If new educational policies were developed and RSA policies mandated VR counselors to fund ASL and English education, who would provide this education in an affordable and accessible medium? Virtually all “English to Speakers of Other Languages” (ESOL) classes at community centers and local colleges are catered to hearing students and focus on pronunciation, tone, and speaking. These are irrelevant skills to Deaf students who use sign language to communicate. Existing but adjacent programs include:

• LaGuardia Community College - Provides a specialized program for Deaf adults to learn ASL, get their GED, or receive one-on-one tutoring, but it doesn’t appear to be tailored to Deaf New Americans.

• SouthWest College for the Deaf - The nation’s only self-contained community college exclusively serving deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Still, it is in a rural area and also doesn’t have unique programming for Deaf New Americans.

• Gallaudet’s English Language Institute - A two-year program that can be cost-prohibitive. It is non-credit giving, FAFSA® ineligible, and requires a baseline proficiency in the English alphabet and other grammatical basics before granting acceptance.

This leaves community organizations with volunteers to informally teach Deaf New Americans ASL and English foundations without any funding support. These organizations include DeafCAN! (West Chester, PA), Helping Hands for the Deaf (Atlanta, GA), Deaf Literacy Center (Safety Harbor, FL), and Deaf Refugee Advocacy (Rochester, NY). There is also a lack of resource sharing or a unified curriculum derived from best practices to teach Deaf New Americans both ASL and English.

Image Source: Refugee Services of Texas
Image Description: A map of the refugee journey, developed by Refugee Services of Texas. It outlines seven main steps of the journey, from “fleeing the country of origin to a relatively safe neighboring country or camp” to “approved families traveling to the United States and being greeted by the local [resettlement] office. In the United States they will find a job, learn English, and integrate into the local community.”

References:
Schwartz, Michael A., Elder, Brent C., Chhetri, Monu, and Preli, Zenna. 2022. "Falling through the Cracks: Deaf New Americans and Their Unsupported Educational Needs" Education Sciences 12, no. 1: 35. 
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12010035.