Towards an Independent Future: Life Skills Training and Vulnerable Deaf Adults

Elizabeth Mathews
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引用次数: 10

Abstract

This article presents results from a service evaluation of a life skills programme for Deaf adults that had been operating as a pilot for three years in Dublin until June 2013. The remit of the programme was to provide a short-term residential intervention service for Deaf adults who were perceived to be vulnerable and isolated from their community. Over the course of its three years in operation, the programme had seventeen Deaf participants. The literature on life skills and Deaf adults is sparse. Studies have tended to concentrate on barriers young people with disabilities face, and within that literature young Deaf people are rarely discussed (Stewart et al., 2013). However, there are particular barriers to the transition to independent living for this population. Acquisition of life skills can be compromised by a number of factors including: lower expectations during their school years, barriers to incidental learning opportunities, poor communication at home, learned helplessness, and poor literacy and numeracy skills. Furthermore, existing mainstream services providing life skills programmes to other adults with disabilities frequently do not have the skill-set to work with Deaf adults, nor do they have communication competency in Irish Sign Language that would facilitate their inclusion in these services. Given the increased move to mainstream services and the closure of congregated settings for adults with disabilities in the wake of the congregated settings report (Health Service Executive, 2011), there is a need now to examine the availability of appropriate services to facilitate the transition to independent living for vulnerable adults with disabilities. This article presents case study data from five participants based on interviews with participants, parents and staff. It also features quantitative results from a retrospective life skills inventory. Overall, gains were made across a range of life skill areas, in particular food management, housekeeping, emergency and safety, and transportation. However, gaps persist particularly in relation to health, sexual health, knowledge of legal rights, and knowledge of housing issues such as renting.
走向独立的未来:生活技能培训和弱势聋人成人
本文介绍了一项针对聋人成人的生活技能项目的服务评估结果,该项目在都柏林作为试点运行了三年,直到2013年6月。该计划的职责是为那些被认为是弱势群体和与社区隔离的聋人成年人提供短期住宿干预服务。在三年的运作过程中,有17名聋人参加了这个项目。关于生活技能和聋人成人的文献很少。研究往往集中在残疾青年面临的障碍上,在这些文献中很少讨论年轻的聋人(Stewart et al., 2013)。然而,对于这些人口来说,在向独立生活过渡的过程中存在着特别的障碍。生活技能的获得可能受到许多因素的影响,包括:在校期间期望较低,偶然学习机会的障碍,家庭沟通不良,习得性无助以及读写和计算能力差。此外,现有的主流服务机构为其他残疾成年人提供生活技能项目,这些机构往往不具备与聋人成年人一起工作的技能,他们也不具备爱尔兰手语的沟通能力,这将有助于他们融入这些服务。鉴于越来越多的人转向主流服务,而且在《聚集环境报告》(卫生服务执行局,2011年)发布之后,关闭了面向残疾成年人的聚集环境,现在有必要审查是否有适当的服务,以促进脆弱的残疾成年人向独立生活的过渡。本文通过对参与者、家长和工作人员的访谈,提供了五个参与者的案例研究数据。它还具有回顾性生活技能清单的定量结果。总体而言,在一系列生活技能领域,特别是食品管理、家政、应急和安全以及交通方面,都取得了进展。但是,差距仍然存在,特别是在保健、性健康、对法律权利的了解以及对住房问题(如租房)的了解方面。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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