-Dual ethnic membership

• Compounds role confusion and identity crises (Cohen, 1993)
• May be discriminated against by white d/Deaf people and by hearing Hispanic people (Cohen, 1993)
• Do not have the linguistic and auditory competency to learn cultural and ethnic values incidentally (Cohen, 1993)
• Must communicate mostly through signs and gestures to family members who speak mostly Spanish--often conflicts with English used in schools
-Creates greater isolation and more problems in the family relationship (Lerman, 1984)

-Decreased involvement and misconceptions of parents

• Many children have had little or no educational experience prior to entry into U.S. special education system--Therefore, concept of parent involvement is simply unfamiliar(Blackwell & Fischgrund, 1984)
• Parents’ typical feelings of discomfort , intimidation, and alienation in a school setting are exacerbated in a program for Deaf children because of communication differences (Cohen, 1993)
• Parents generally do not possess the skills necessary for utilizing due process rights concerning the education of disabled children (Cohen, 1993)
• Parents often hold the general view of the d/Deaf as deficient because Deaf communities in developing countries still lack influence--May lead to low expectations (Gerner de Garcia, 1993)
• Need for early and consistent amplification is very often not understood by parents because use of amplification devices may have been uncommon in their home culture (Blackwell & Fischgrund, 1984)
• Information presented by professionals often misunderstood or misconstrued because of lack of English proficiency and formal education (Fischgrund, Cohen, & Clarkson, 1987)

-Disproportionate board and staff representation (Cohen, 1993)

• Approximately 94 percent of a teacher sample surveyed in 1980 reported their ethnic background as "white"
-Contributes to lack of awareness and understanding
• Lack of proportionate representation results in a strong and pervading white, hearing, middle-class cultural orientation
-May be interpreted by parents and students as insensitivity
• Imbalance of ethnic board members limits school policy regarding ethnic d/Deaf children

-Problems with late identification

• Due to lack of Spanish-speaking professionals, lack of access to health care, and lack of parental awareness (Gerner de Garcia, 1993)
• Some parents ignored by doctors—problems of child incorrectly attributed to developmental delays (Gerner de Garcia, 1993)
• Some parents received no help or diagnosis until they immigrated to U.S. -- May have lived in isolated rural locations far from services (Gerner de Garcia, 1993)
• Many families resist health care resources completely because find services to be threatening and inaccessible -- prefer to look to non-medical and non-educational networks for support and information (Fischgrund, Cohen, & Clarkson, 1987)
• Many children remain undetected past critical age for language acquisition (Jackson-Maldonado, 1993)

-Placement and assessment problems (Gerner de Garcia, 1993)

• Underrepresented in some special education classes
-Students being placed in bilingual regular education classes to meet their linguistic needs
-Special needs are ignored
• May be forced into an English immersion situation despite their ability to perform higher level academic tasks in Spanish
• Some suffer from inappropriate placement in schools for the Deaf because staff is not prepared to work with this population
• Some inappropriately placed in special education classes for language delayed, learning disabled, or developmentally delayed children
-Due to: biased assessment practices, examiner bias, and inadequate training of evaluators
• Children often labeled incorrectly as having "no language" because of evaluators’ lack of Spanish-speaking skills
• Assessment personnel who are trained in both deaf education and are from diverse ethnic backgrounds are very scarce—therefore students’ underlying competence not accurately reflected most of the time (MacNeil, 1990)

• Most early intervention programs are inaccessible to these families
-May have difficulty getting to schools or clinics because of work hours and transportation difficulties (Gerner de Garcia, 1993)
• Many families cannot easily afford appropriate medical attention (Dean, 1984)
• Many families cannot afford hearing aides (Jackson-Maldonado, 1993)

-Differences in communication philosophies and/or poor educational experiences in native countries (Jackson-Maldonado, 1993)

• Most education programs in Mexico and Latin America are auditory/oral or oral only -- Most children cannot benefit because of late identification and/or lack of hearing aides
• Total communication programs, when available, lack theoretical background and proper training for teachers
• Very few teachers are even nearly proficient in any form of sign language
• Many teachers are not specialists in deaf education
• Teachers who have been trained mostly use methodologies from the 1950’s and earlier, such as Fitzgerald Key and McGinnis method