Keywords: Deaf Education Information, Deafness Related Issues, Deaf Culture and History
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 15:34:28 -0500
Hi! My name is Jennifer Waxman and I'm a deaf education major at Kent
State University. Like one of my fellow students, Jessica Soltesz, I
am required to do an I-Search paper for one of my classes. I would
appreciate any information from those of you out there who consider
themselves experts in the field.
I was always under the assumption that the majority of incidents of
deafness was related to things like illness,etc. However, lately on
Edudeaf and in my practicum I have noticed that many deaf children
seem to have siblings that are also deaf. I was wondering: 1) Is
deafness more of a hereditary issue than I had previously believed?
2)If this is true, why?
I appreciate any help you can give me. Although I have been silent
until now, I have enjoyed reading my Edudeaf messages.
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 16:06:52 EST
According to http://www.gallaudet.edu/~cadsweb/factshee.html, heredity
is the leading cause of hearing impairment at birth (13%). Other known
causes total 34.5% of the surveyed population of "children and youth,
so it seems that the cause is unknown in a lot of cases.
Gerald Sacks
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 17:00:23 -0500
Hi Jennifer. I am a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. I have 2 deaf
sons, and my youngest is hearing. There is no deafness in either side of the
family, however it appears that our sons' deafness is hereditary. I was a
teacher of the deaf before I had our children, yes they are my birth
children, weird huh?. I am not familiar with the statistics of the causes of
deafness, but if you would like to use me as a reference feel free to contact
me on AOL, the name is JSupy. Good luck.
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 16:47:48 -0600
I suspect that it is a matter of awareness and epidemiology. In earlier
times it was not uncommon for pregnant women to contract rubella ("German
measles") during the first trimester. As we know now, one of the
complications of rubella during that time-frame is deafness. By the
mid-70's a vaccine was available, and physicians also routinely tested
pregnant women for their immune status. As a result, women no longer get
rubella (because they are vaccinated as babies themselves, and again at
age 5 or so). This has resulted in a smaller percent of deaf kids having
disease as the cause, and thus a larger percent having genetic causes.
The rubella "bulge" finished high school a number of years ago.
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 23:00:15 -0800
>As a result, women no longer get rubella (because they are vaccinated as babies themselves, and again at
age 5 or so).
Candy,
Unfortunately this is not totally accurate women still do get rubella, I
contracted Rubella in 1991 at the age of 20 while I was pregnant with my
son. He is deaf due to contracting Rubella in the 1st trimester. So
please don't tell me women no longer get Rubella, granted it is rare but
it does happen.
Anna Wilson
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 21:40:50 -0800
Jennifer,
The cause of deafness can be either environmental or hereditary. By
environmental I mean assaults on the ear by bacteria, viruses, ototoxic
drugs, loud sounds, etc. Hereditary deafness can be from a dominant or
recessive gene mechanism. Boys Town is the "official" organization for
gathering and interpreting data about hereditary deafness. They have a
WWW site which will pop up on any search engine.
Jay
Uploaded by: Jodi Gray/KSU Deaf Education Major
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Subject: Sibling deafness
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF Document 2 of 6
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Subject: Re: Sibling deafness
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF Document 3 of 6
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
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Subject: Re: Sibling deafness
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF Document 4 of 6
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Subject: Re: Sibling deafness
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF
Candy Krepel - mother of 1 of the 50% "etiology unknown"
Document 5 of 6
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
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Subject: Re: Sibling deafness
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF Document 6 of 6
Reply-To: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Sender: A Practical Discussion List Regarding Deaf Education
Subject: Re: Sibling deafness
To: Multiple recipients of list EDUDEAF