To learn without sound
(Continued from pg. 9) .
Mrs. McCulloch said the parents also are
taught the sign language vocabularies their '
children use and bring in lists of words which are
particularly important to each child.
"We teach such concepts as where, what, hot,
cold and how to tell their parents if they are sick
or hurt," she said. "The vocabulary depends on
their environments, too. It is different if they live
in the city or on a farm."
After the preschool program these children
usually enter the program for the acoustically
handicapped in the Lincoln Public Schools, she
said.
Marcia Nash, a vocational rehabilitation
counselor, works with the vocationally
handicapped in the Lincoln area, placing people
from age 1 6 to 60 in appropriate jobs.
Miss Nash said that although the acoustically
handicapped feel the current job squeeze more
than other, underemployment is the biggest
problem for the deaf, not unemployment.
Dr. George Propp, assistant director of the
Specialized Offices for the Deal, agrees.
Employers sometimes employ deaf people
because they will be loyal to the company, being
unable to compete with hearing people for jobs
in other companies. Executive jobs frequently
require use of a telephone and the deaf rarely can
seek promotion, Proff said.
One of six
Nebraska Kail on the UN-L campus houses
one of the six media centers for the deaf in the
United States where visual aids for the
handicapped are made.
Propp, one of the many deaf employees at
the center, estimated that there about 75 adults
in Lincoln, deaf since childhood. Only about 40
of these are in the labor force.
Modern automation is a primary problem in
the employment of the deaf, he said.
"Until the last 10 years, there were deaf
. linotype operators on most newspapers," he said.
"Now they use offset printing, and not many
deaf people are trained for this yet. Computers
are taking away jobs that deaf people can do, and
replacing them with more specialized jobs which
require special training."
Propp said the new jobs often require use of
telephones and communication devices the deaf
cannot use.
Propp said deaf women are most often
employed in office jobs that don't require use of
telephones or dictaphones. Men, who were once
primarily assembly line workers, are finding
limited opportunities in mailrooms', printshops,
dental technology and tile and carpet
installation. But only a few are employed in each
field.
Opportunities better
According to Propp, deaf students in Lincoln
may go to the Gallaudet College for the Deaf in
Washington, D.C., or technical colleges on the
east coast or in California. Some decide to
remain there because employment opportunities
are better.
"Other students often' have three years of
work experience behind them when they leave
high school that the deaf student doesn't have,"
he said.
Within family
Communication problems within deaf
families can intensify this problem.
"Kids who hear know what jobs are like from
friends and relatives. A deaf child may not know
what his father does beyond the title of his job
because communication between them is so
difficult," he said.
Although government aid is scarce, said
Propp, early education and placement programs
such as those at UN-L are helping an increasing
number of the deaf.
Propp said public awareness is important in
developing communication between the deaf and
Hie rest of the community.
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