Hearing impairment has often been referred to as an invisible disability as you cannot tell whether someone has a hearing loss by merely looking at them.
As a result, people with hearing loss are likely to be misjudged, with some assuming that the concerned person has some form of mental development problem or simply arrogant.
The causes of hearing impairment in children are many and diverse as they can be caused by genetics, maternal infections during pregnancy, complications during or after birth, head trauma or other health issues.
If not addressed early enough hearing impairment can have a significant negative impact on the life of the child, communication and many other barriers.
Collection and generation of accurate disability data statistics are largely hindered by the lack of a universally accepted standard for categorising disabilities and methodologies used which also affects proper comparisons.
The Kenya 2019 National Census shows that about 2.2 per cent of a total population of approximately 47.6 million have some form of disability with an indication of 0.28 per cent or 150,000 having hearing impairment.
These figures are quite low in comparison with the 2009 Census and actual status on the ground. This data does also not explain the extent of whether the persons involved have mild, moderate, severe, or profound hearing loss in terms of gender, age, or socioeconomic class.
With no visible markers and low reported numbers on the extent of the problem, it is easy for hearing loss to go unnoticed, as even those living with the disability may not realise how much of an impact hearing loss has on their lives.
Hearing loss is not a learning disability but hearing is crucial for speech and language development, which lays the foundation for a child's learning experience, communication, interaction with others, school performance, and ability to be independent and earn a living in future.
People with hearing loss can be subjected to prejudice such as being branded mentally ill, less intelligent or using selective hearing. Additionally, hearing loss disabilities can also lead to delayed milestones, cognitive decline, social disengagement, communication gaps among other barriers.
Families with children with hearing difficulties are also likely to undergo discrimination, stigma and lack of emotional support and unacceptability of the child with hearing difficulties. As such a family is likely to struggle with a child with hearing loss who on the other hand may become lonely and withdrawn from normal social setups.
Due to the relatively few identified number of people affected by hearing loss, the issue has remained “silent” and not been given the attention that it deserves. There is need to make appropriate early interventions that will involve close monitoring, and follow-ups to ensure that children do not lose their hearing abilities.
Such interventions include early hearing screening, ear disease prevention and management; access to technologies; rehabilitation services; improved communication; noise reduction and greater family and community engagement.
The interventions should involve professional assessment of the child’s hearing ability which will lead to recommendations on whether the child needs hearing aids, cochlea implants, sign language training or speech therapy.
The government must ensure that challenges facing the health sector such as inadequate professionals such as doctors, clinical officers, audiologists and speech and language therapists; inadequate infrastructure, resources, equipment, assistive devices, resources and medical supplies are easily accessible and fairly priced.
Additionally, there is need to adequately prepare schools to handle children with hearing disabilities, have adequate learning and teaching resources and qualified human resource. This is because schools can either build on the hearing abilities of a child or totally diminish the existing hearing abilities based on where they place the child.
For instance a child who has partial hearing loss can be pushed to a deaf class where they are likely to lose their residual hearing, yet their problem can be solved by being equipped with hearing aids and relevant resource.
It is also important for government to help improve access to speech therapy and hearing aids by addressing the personal, social, and economical challenges that face parents with children with hearing disabilities. The current cost of hearing aids which starts at about Kshs 35,000 is prohibitively expensive and not many parents can afford to buy these devices.
Above all, it is imperative to equip and empower caregivers of children living with hearing loss as they often have to deal with the challenges that face their children both at home and in the community.
The caregivers often find that communication with the children is difficult, hard and frustrating; they also lack knowledge and information about hearing loss and how it affects their children. Training them in sign language is the first step to bridging the communication barrier.
Faced with the above challenges, parents often find that having a child with hearing loss is sometimes a lonely and challenging journey and if they are not well equipped they may abandon their children instead of seeking to have their hearing loss addressed.
If the above measures are taken, then the HI children will lead dignified lives and can in future be able to take care of themselves.
Mother of an empowered hearing-impaired youth and the founder of Ear Trek, a community-based organisation that offers early intervention preschool programme for children with hearing and speech impairment. [email protected]
