Sensitizing Prospective Workplaces on the Needs of Students with Hearing Impairments (original) (raw)
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Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 2019
Background: Despite policies and legislation mandating the employment of persons with disabilities, individuals with hearing impairment continue to face barriers and challenges accessing the labour market and have typically experienced higher rates of unemployment or underemployment. In South Africa, the majority of individuals with disabilities remain dependent on social-welfare to meet basic needs and as a result, their potential remains grossly untapped. Misconceptions regarding the capabilities of hearing impaired individuals have resulted in the occupational marginalization of this population. Objective: This study aimed to investigate employers' perceptions and experiences in recruiting and retaining individuals with hearing impairment in KwaZulu-Natal Provinces' private sector. Method: A descriptive survey with quantitative methods of analysis was used to obtain information from employers, human resource personnel or management in various industries who have employed individuals with hearing loss. The Chronbach Alpha suggested that the self-administered questionnaire had good internal consistency (p = 0.858). A total of 30 responses were obtained from the 19 companies who agreed to participate. Results: Approximately 75% of participants indicated either a medium or low level of awareness regarding disability. Legislation such as the Employment Equity Act (EEA, no 55 of 1998) and the Skills Development Act (SDA, no 97 of 1998) were considered the most useful legislature, as indicated by 66.7% of participants. Those who indicated that external services or resources, such as the KZN Blind and Deaf Society and eDeaf were used during recruitment and retention were more likely to report to the benefits of employing hearing impaired individuals, this being statistically significant (p < 0.001). Less than half of the participants reported that reasonable accommodations were provided for their employees, and half indicated that they were willing to provide sign language interpreters. Most participants (70%) suggested that communication difficulties, particularly in meetings, contributed towards poor employment rates amongst individuals with hearing impairment. Communication difficulties were further endorsed by 73.3% of participants as a major challenge when recruiting and hiring persons with hearing impairment. Other concerns related to the safety of employees and attitudes of co-workers. Conclusion: The findings suggest that a lack of familiarity of disability and disability legislature can manifest in reliance on erroneous stereotypes that individuals with disabilities are poor job performers and incapable of working independently. However, with the use of reasonable accommodations which includes sign language interpreters and desensitization workshops, employers were able to successfully integrate hearing impaired employees into the workforce.
Understanding the Factors of Low Employment among Deaf People From the Perspective of Job Coaches
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2021
The employment's issues of people with disability (PWD) are not only limited to Malaysia but extend to the global context. Despite introducing the Malaysian Disabilities Act 2008, which entitled PWD for an equal right to access to employment, and various strategies at the national level, the employment rates for PWD are still low. PWDs are often excluded from the mainstream labour market, thence considered as the marginalized group. This research was conducted to explore the factors of low employment among deaf people, particularly in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Qualitative research design was employed for this study whereby a focus group discussion was conducted with job coaches in a PWD Job Placement Unit and with the president of Deaf Society. The findings revealed several organizational, people and extraorganizational factors that contribute to low employment among deaf people.
Exploring the job demands experienced by employees with hearing impairment in South Africa
SA Journal of Human Resource Management
Orientation: South Africa’s employment equity agenda towards persons with disabilities requires more insight to develop polices and standards of practice.Research purpose: This study sought to inductively inquire about job characteristics that employees with hearing impairment (EwHIs) experience as job demands.Motivation for the study: Scholarly research regarding job demands experienced by EwHIs is underrepresented in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and specifically on the African continent. Therefore, this study aimed to address this gap in literature within the South African context.Research approach/design and method: An exploratory, qualitative research approach was used. Social constructivism served as the paradigm. The approach was complemented by a descriptive phenomenological design aimed at deeply understanding the job demands of EwHIs within South Africa Purposive sampling was used to identify 14 respondents. Data were collected by using open-ended deaf-accessibl...
The Employment of Deaf Persons: A Zimbabwean Employers Perspective
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2014
The study explored the views of the Zimbabwean employers regarding the employment of deaf persons. The study was motivated by the need to find the cause to the rapid increase of the number of deaf persons looming the streets of Harare. A mixed design methodology was employed. The respondents were ten employers of deaf persons based in Harare. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The results have shown that the majority of employers believe that deaf employees have the same vocational competencies as their as their hearing counterparts. It has also been found that employers are skeptical of employing deaf person for fearing to lose clients. The results also showed that employers of deaf persons do not get training on the communication needs of deaf persons. The study recommended that there is need for the government to give corporate tax rebates to employers of deaf employees. It is also recommended that treasury introduce a fund for the purposes of funding projects of deaf school leavers.
Career construction and support of D/deaf high school learners in the Eastern Cape Province
2021
D/deaf people typically are not employed, or work in menial jobs, although they have been through high1 school in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The researcher has not observed them in professional careers. However, there is no empirical evidence why the D/deaf are excluded from the formal labour market after schooling. Understanding the underlying factors influencing such observations was important. The problem manifested in unemployment in the formal labour sector, but the researcher wanted to understand the root cause of this problem in depth. The aim of the study is to explore and critically analyse the D/deaf high school learners' construction of their careers and the supports available to them in constructing and realising their career aspirations. The international literature reviewed identifies knowledge gaps concerning career construction and supportive imperatives of D/deaf high school learners. The theory of career construction by Savickas (2005) frames th...
This research investigated perceptions of hearing-impaired students in identifying the effectiveness and experiences which facilitated their successful transition from secondary and post-secondary education into adult life and employment. These studies had indirectly identified barriers faced by hearing-impaired students during their transition from high school to community living as perceived by educators and employers. A total of 85 hearing-impaired employees are involved as respondents to answer the questionnaire and 10 individuals from various sectors will be identified as participants in the qualitative data. The findings indicated 55.3% agreed that the counselor/ teacher helped in securing employment, and 74% agreed that school programs did not help with job placement. The study also showed that communication is the main factors that prevented hearing-impaired worker to participate in the employment sector. Other factors include level of education, personality, perceptions of the deaf and the employers.
2019
The following remarks are important to note beforehand: The editorial style as well as the references drawn in this dissertation follow the format prescribed by the Publication Manual (6th ed.) of the American Psychology Association (APA). This practice is in accordance with the policy of the Programme in Human Resource Management of the NorthWest University (Potchefstroom) as requirement to use the APA style in all scientific documents since January 1999 onwards. This dissertation was submitted in the form of two research articles. The editorial style is specified in accordance with the South African Journal of Human Resource Management, as it is in line with a significant part of the APA style. Construction of tables was followed in line with APA guidelines. Qualitative articles tend to comprise more manuscript pages as compared to quantitative articles (Levitt et al (2018). 1 The reasons for this are twofold: Firstly, the methods section includes detailed procedures. Secondly, the results section employs a narrative that consists of rich descriptions. In light of the above, the qualitative research article presented in chapter 2 exceeds the length of standard quantitative articles.
Zambia Interdisciplinary Journal of Education ( ZIJE) Online-ISSN 2710-0715, 2020
The creation and maintenance of inclusive learning environments is a key responsibility of all teachers working in Australian schools. Most Australian universities embed inclusion education training for pre-service teachers (PSTs) in coursework. There is an implicit assumption in these arrangements that the study of inclusion and of special needs education completed at university will translate into practice when PSTs are working in schools. This phenomenological mixed methods research design investigated how effectively inclusion education translated into practice. The results revealed that while PSTs were aware and supportive of inclusion, no clear links were made between theory and practice.