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Hearing Types
Corker’s analysis of the workplace provides many further points which can also bee seen in teams of professional workers, such as the mental health group, the research team or the education team. She describes many of the circumstances as discriminating against deaf people. Most hearing people in these teams they would feel this to be an affront to their positive and worthy motivations. To see how this comes about we have to look at some of the types of hearing people. There are many different
reactions and behaviours which hearing people engage in when they have deaf people in the
team. They arise in different personalities,
skills and experiences. When we identified
these in our previous work they were descriptions of researchers but many of them might
apply to the situation of deaf mental health. The
Director: We hold the knowledge and the power. We
may hire deaf and use deaf people to get the information we want. However, we do not make more than minor efforts to
share our knowledge with hem because we do not expect them to be able to understand or
take the initiative. (Baker-Shenk
and Kyle, 1990, p 68) Often the reluctance to
share or to inform arises because of rigid roles or because of role marling by regulation. Certain people can practise certain aspects of the
work because of the prior training which they have received. This is part of the process of
professionalisation. Deaf people usually come
in at the bottom of the regulated places. The Aloof: We
are not involved or particularly interested in the problems of deaf people..... We are scientists interested in understanding
particular linguistic/cultural/ psychological phenomena. (Baker-Shenk and Kyle, 1990,
p 69) The particular requirement
of the professional role is detachment and non-involvement.
This person would not participate in any deaf activities nor visit the deaf
club for a drink. The
Semi-Aloof: We are trained professionals, we
focus on our work and we do our job well. But
we do see some of the injustices done to deaf people and do think this should stop and we
do not mind saying so on occasion. We try to
be sensitive to deaf people’s needs, but believe that this should not be at the
expense of our work. (Baker-Shenk
and Kyle, 1990, p 69) The question of time comes
into play here; time to learn sign language effectively, the time to mix with other deaf
people and learn more about the background to the problems which we face. The Hurt and
Frustrated: We have really tried to e be
understanding and caring while doing our jobs. But
they (the deaf people) misunderstand and do not appreciate all that we have done for them. They do not seem to accept us; they miss meetings
and publicly misunderstand our work. (Baker-Shenk and Kyle, 1990, p 69) Here sign language is an
issue as this person has taken the time to learn to a reasonable level and can communicate
very well with individual deaf people. Yet it
feels as if this is not enough and deaf people sometimes withdraw to their own grouping. There are a number of other
types which have been described but these are the ones which are most appropriate here. Working relations are often not explicit and so
the outcomes can be puzzling. We have to try
to put them together to think about the team in a working situation. |
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