Reflections on Deaf Education: Perspectives of Deaf Senior Citizens

Parents with deaf children face many challenges in making educational choices, developing language and a sense of belonging. Other key aspects of life including concept development and social competency are also critical decision points faced by parents. Developing language, whether it is through spoken or signed modalities, is of utmost importance during the formative years and for many families with deaf children, there are no prior experiences with deafness, American Sign Language, Deaf culture, or the deaf community. This study aims to understand the educational and familial experiences of older deaf citizens by examining the meaning of being deaf and members of biological and cultural families, and the concern for education of young deaf children as constructed by deaf senior citizens from both deaf and hearing families. For the purpose of obtaining both childhood and educational experiences of older deaf citizens and examining what advice they would offer to families of today with deaf children, a qualitative design was implemented in which 13 participants participated in focus group and individual interviews. Themes that emerged from the data include, but are not limited to, community-based learning, the value of communication, involvement with other deaf individuals, importance of family communication and signing, sibling involvement and including deaf children as true members of a family. One recommendation made by the deaf senior adults was that families with deaf children engage with deaf seniors more frequently as a valuable resource.     

Individualized Care in Practice: Communication Strategies of Nursing Aides and Residents in Nursing Homes

Individualizing care in nursing homes can be difficult and complex. The purpose of this study is to characterize the meaning of and experiences with individualized care from the perspectives of both nursing aides and nursing-home residents. Eight focus groups of nursing aides (N =17) and residents (N=15) from two nursing homes generated four dialectical themes related to communication strategies: (a) getting to know versus maintaining a protective distance, (b) mutual respect versus disrespect, (c) avoiding versus addressing conflict, and (d) equity versus perceived favoritism. These findings suggest dialectics in how interpersonal communication affects individualized care from the perspectives of both nursing aides and residents.     

Face it: The Impact of Gender on Social Media Images

Social websites like Facebook enable users to upload self-created digital images; it is therefore of interest to see how gender is performed in this domain. A panel used a literature review of pictorial features associated with gender traits, and a sample of Facebook pictures to assess gender stereotypes present in Facebook images. Traits emerging in greater prominence in pictures of males included active, dominant, and independent. Those prominent with female users included attractive and dependent. These findings generally conform to gender stereotypes found in prior research and extend the research regarding stereotypical gender traits displayed in professional media depictions to self-selected social media displays. They also extend the research on gender differences in impression management generally, in both interpersonal communication and social media, to include gender-specific traits that are part of young mens and women's impression management.     

Rankings,Diversity and the Power of Renewal in Science. A Comparison between Germany,the UK and the US

Rankings are part and parcel of the neoliberal agenda in science aiming at increasing the competitive allocation of funds among universities. This article focuses on the decreasing power of renewal in science as a result of this agenda particularly because of its increasingly consolidated stratification of the academic system into élite and mass institutions. A comparison based on data from the Academic Ranking of World Universities of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University between the less stratified German system, the more strongly stratified British system, and the most strongly stratified, though at its heart still diverse US-American system provides a first test of the hypotheses.     

Social Connectedness of Deaf Retirees

The intergenerational connectedness that has traditionally bound members of the Deaf community to each other is changing amidst the current technological and cultural landscape. This study explores perceptions of Deaf retirees concerning their usefulness to younger generations and their need to stay connected to each other despite increasing isolation due to implications of aging. Factors such as communication networks, transportation availability, proximity to families and friends, technology, and vital connections to the local residential school for children who are deaf are discussed as emergent themes from two focus groups conducted with 14 Deaf retirees. This exploratory study sought to discover how the dynamics between the generations have evolved and the positive and negative impact of such changes. The voices of the retirees in this study shed light on the complicating issues surrounding communication as a lifeline between generations of Deaf people who are native users of American Sign Language. Additionally, the traditions of social connectedness upheld by the Deaf community are similar to those of other collectivist cultures that also may experience shifting social networks within their own communities.     

General Communications

Joseph E. Dispenza's Advertising the American Worpan (Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum Publishing, 1975—price not know, paper)

Len Biegel and Aileen Lubin's Mediability : A Guide for Nonprofits (Taft Products, 1000 Vermont Ave., N.W., Washington D.C. 20005—price not given, paper)

Don Allen's The Electric Anthology: Probes into Vass Media and Popular Culture (Dayton, Ohio: Pflaum Publishing, 1975- 1:Tan- not known paper)

A Perspective on Information Resources: Annual Report 1974-75 (Program on Information Technologies and Public Policy, 200 Aiken Computation Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 02138—$6.00, paper set of two booklets)

Patricia Files' A Guide to Educational Resources: 1975-76 (Box E, School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. 94305— $3.50, paper, with checks made payable to "Box E")     

The Changing Context of Further Educational Provision: fears and expectations of special needs co‐ordinators

ABSTRACT

In this paper we examine how the changing context of further educational provision is influencing the practice of one group of lecturers. These are the ‘special needs’, or ‘learning support’, co‐ordinators, whose responsibilities include supporting students with disabilities or learning difficulties as well as developing skills in staff management and negotiating for resources.