You are here: home>understanding deaf culture>

Implications

Effectively engaging and meeting the needs of Deaf survivors requires organizations and staff who work at those organizations to deliver culturally competent services that are accessible and welcoming.

Culturally and Linguistically Competent Services

Cultural competence is the "integration and transformation of knowledge about individuals and groups of people into specific standards, policies, practices, and attitudes used in appropriate cultural settings to increase the quality of services." ¹ Cultural competence increases the quality of services and, ultimately, better meets the needs of people from diverse backgrounds.    

To become culturally competent, individuals must be trained; they must practice; and they must work in and be supported by a culturally competent organization. According to the Provider's Guide to Quality and Culture , culturally competent organizations have the following elements:

• Openness and respect for diverse staff and clients
• Access to a diverse cadre of professional interpreters
• Signs and written materials in the languages of its clients
• A culturally diverse staff that ideally reflects its client mix
• Cultural competence orientation and training for staff at all levels
• Services and programs that address the very different needs of different client populations
• Routine evaluation of the program by racial, ethnic, and language groups

In addition to these elements, for Deaf people specifically, it is important that they be free from experiencing audism. Audism is used to describe stereotypes of Deaf or hard of hearing people and discrimination against these people with attitudes or assumptions that the cultural ways as defined by hearing people are preferable than the cultural ways that Deaf people live.  

Understanding Deaf Culture is designed to provide you with a basic overview of Deaf culture. Designing and delivering culturally and linguistically competent services, however, requires much more than a basic understanding. Among other things, it requires an in-depth knowledge of Deaf and hearing cultures, an integration of that knowledge into policies, practices, and attitudes, and an on-going relationship with the community.

Accessible and Welcoming Services

Creating an environment and a program that is welcoming starts with understanding the “floor” of responsibilities that you have to provide equal opportunity. These responsibilities are established by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (for providers who receive federal funds). Meeting these requirements is a necessary starting point.

Using universal design, you can then design places, things, information, communications, services and policy that accommodate a wide range of possible needs rather than the “average” experience. There is no solution that is guaranteed to solve every need. Some people and some circumstances inevitably will require individualized solutions.   

print this page email this page

back to previous page

• community profiles
• resources
• news & events