How Bilingualism Contributes to Healthy Development in Deaf Children: A Public Health Perspective
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COMMENTARY
How Bilingualism Contributes to Healthy Development in Deaf Children: A Public Health Perspective Erin Wilkinson1 · Jill P. Morford1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The aim of this article is to increase awareness of language practices in the deaf community that affect communication needs and health outcomes, focusing particularly on the prevalence of bilingualism among deaf adults. Language deprivation and poor health outcomes in the deaf population are risks that cannot be addressed solely by hearing intervention. We propose that bilingualism acts as a protective measure to minimize the health risks faced by deaf individuals. Provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services to deaf stakeholders, and particularly hearing families of deaf children, requires familiarity with the developmental and social ramifications of bilingualism. Keywords Bilingualism · Sign language · Hearing loss · Health disparities · CLAS
Significance What is already known on this subject? The majority of deaf individuals are bilingual in a signed and a spoken/written language, but the needs of this population have yet to be addressed with respect to eliminating health inequalities that affect minority populations. What this study adds? This article provides an overview of deafness and bilingualism as an avenue for increasing awareness of language practices in the deaf community that may influence communication needs and health outcomes. Growing awareness of bilingualism in the US population has spurred policy developments to address the unique health needs of individuals who use more than one language in daily life. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now provides guidance to health care professionals through national standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) in order to eliminate health inequalities that affect minority populations (https: //thinkc ultur alhea lth.hhs.gov/clas). The purpose of these standards is to advance health equity, to improve quality of health care, and to help eliminate disparities. However, these guidelines have not explicitly acknowledged * Erin Wilkinson [email protected] 1
Department of Linguistics, MSC03 2130, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131‑0001, USA
members of the deaf community as a target population, despite the fact that the majority of deaf individuals are bilingual in a signed and a spoken/written language. In this article, we provide an overview of deafness and bilingualism as an avenue for increasing awareness of language practices in the deaf community that may influence communication needs and health outcomes. First, we provide a brief overview of recent research on bilingualism and deafness. Second, we explain how bilingualism can function as a protective measure to minimize the risk of language deprivation and barriers to accessing to health information. Physicians who are interested in learning more about this topic, including evidence-base
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