People with hearing impairments in Germany ICT support of education. Dr. Ileana Hamburg Institut Arbeit und Technik WH Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Transcription

1 People with hearing impairments in Germany ICT support of education Dr. Ileana Hamburg Institut Arbeit und Technik WH Gelsenkirchen, Germany

2 The situation Hearing loss is considered the most prevalent impairment worldwide. Statistics suggest that more than 900 million people worldwide will suffer from hearing loss. The frequency in Germany may be as high as 1 in 5. The website of the German society of hearing impaired self help and professional associations states "300,000" as total with 100,000 profoundly deaf. Other websites state that there are between 13 and 14 million people with hearing loss in Germany. More specific statistics can be found on the DSB website, which has a statistics section. By means of a constitutive decision made in July 2013, the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) has doubled standard rates for the care of people with hearing loss, and increased performance requirements for hearing aids. The association brings together 34 public health insurance funds. The standard amount for care of people over 18 years of age with hearing impairment is now Euros (currently Euros), including VAT and the cost of follow-up will no longer be included in the standard amount, but reimbursed separately.

3 Hearing aids must now have the following minimum technical characteristics: Digital technology Multiple channels (at least 4) Anti-feedback and noise-reduction At least three programs Amplification greater than or equal to 75 db

4 Education for young people with hearing loss In principle, all levels of qualification are now open, and attainable, to them. Almost all children who have received a cochlear implant a prosthetic device that enables them to perceive sound and understand speech at an early age attend kindergarten and go to an ordinary school. But they need much more support. The levels of assistance they now obtain are nowhere near adequate. Since Germany signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Disabled, those who are deaf or hard of hearing are entitled to be educated together with their non-handicapped peers. Being ostracized at normal schools is not what inclusion is supposed to mean. The Convention declares that ordinary schools should be open to all. It does not mandate the closure of remedial schools, as is often erroneously asserted. It simply means that parents have the right to choose the sort of school they want their child to attend. Moreover, the concept of inclusion cannot be restricted to the time one spends in school. On the contrary, it applies to all stages and situations in life. The goal must be to ensure that everybody has a fair chance to participate fully in social life. Teachersof the deaf in Germany have theirownassociation, the Berufsverband Deutscher Horgeschadigtenpadagogen( whichtranslates to"professional association for teachersof the deaf in Germany."

5 The organization"interdisciplinaryassociationfor the promotionof bilingual education hearing-impaired children and young person," as the name implies, promotes bilingualbiculturaleducationfor deafchildren( The German deafportaltaubenschlag.de anddeafbase.de, havelistsof deafschools andprograms. Oneschoolfor the deafisthe schoolfor the deafin Berlin ( Technology The cochlear implant (CI) is the most used device that enables people who suffer from sensorineural hearing defects to perceive sounds. The CI is made up of an external unit consisting of a receiver, processor and transmitter, and an internal receiver-stimulator which is implanted subcutaneously in the skull behind the ear. The external transmitter conveys the processed acoustic signals, via the internal receiver, to electrodes implanted in the cochlea in the inner ear, which stimulate the fibres of the auditory nerve.

6 Innovative Practices 2014 on Accessibility VerbaVoice: developed an innovative distant, internet-based interpreting system. For students and trainees with hearing impairments the online service offers mobile access to information and enables full participation in knowledge society. offers live text and sign language video to enable accessibility in events, conferences, meetings etc. solutions are used now by many local and international organizations in Europe as well as hundreds persons with hearing impairments. The system can be used with many different devices like smartphones, tablet-pc and laptops. The services are free of charge for deaf and hard of hearing users. At university students with hearing impairments use the online service which enables full participation in knowledge society.

7 Projects ICT based accessibility for Deaf and Blind People Ceramics An innovative ICT-based training in design ceramics for at least 70 Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Blind and Partially Sighted learners. EVIDENT An interactive educational software that can be used in a bilingual educational setting and which is not restricted to any one particular (sign) language Signing Books for the Deaf The proejct explore how information should be presented to deaf people on video Thetos The system translates texts written in German into animated German sign language gestures displayed on the screen

8 Improving multimodal web accessibility for deaf people: sign language interpreter module A sign language interpreter module (Germany Austria Slovenia cooperation) A transparent signlanguagevideoswhichappearon thescreen on requesthasbeen developed. Itisbasedon a systemtoenablethe embeddingof selectiveinteractiveelementsinto the original text in appropriate locations, which act as triggers for the video translation intosignlanguage. Whentheshortvideoclip terminates, thevideowindowisautomaticallyclosedandthe original web pageisshown. The systempreservestheoriginal web pagewiththeadditionofa web layerofsign language vide

9 Other issues Deaf Television Germany has the deaf television program"seeing instead of hearing," a program similar totheunited Kingdom'sSee Hear. Germany'sprogramhasitsownwebsite, at: Deaf News Germany'smaindeafnewssiteappearstobewww.deaf-deaf.de. The siteincludesblogs, andseems toalso havedeafdating.

10 Deaf Publications Germany hasseveraldeafrelatedpublications: The Indication(das zeichen). Publishedbythe Institute of German SignLanguage and Communication of the Deaf. Magazine for languageandcultureof gehörloser oneswhichoversa varietyof topics, includinghistory, international, education, life, andreviews. At thetime thisarticlewas written, the table of contents for the November issue included a circa 1815 article, "Deafmute asobjectsofmedicalattempts." "Quarter" magazineispublishedbythegerman societyofhearingimpairedselfhelpand professional associations Hörgeschädigten Pädagogik appearsto beaimedat hardofhearingpeople, andis publishedbytheprofessional associationofdeafteachers. A magazineaboutdeafkidsispublishedbypublishing househearing-impairedchildren ggmbh ( It looks like a journal similar to the A.G. Bell Association's Volta Review (horgeschadigte kinder erwachsene horgeschadigte). The publication's namelooselytranslatesto"hearingimpairedchildren-adult hearingimpaired." Deutsche GehorlosenZeitung ( isa deaf newspaperpublishedbythegerman Deaf Association.

11 Deaf Kids in Germany Germany'swebsitefor deafkids, hasa blogwith newsfor deaf/hoh kids. Germany hasoriginal bookson deafnessfor kids, andonesuch bookisa bookabouta deafboyandhisdog. Deafkidsin Germany canattenda deafcamp sponsoredbythe German Deaf Association( DeafGerman kidscanread Das Bunte Blatt ( a magazine similar to the American magazine World Around You. Das Bunte Blatt is published by tge professional associationof Bavarianhearing-impairedpaedagoguesregistered association, withthe contentproducedbystudentsat the University of Munich. German parentsofdeafandhardofhearingchildrencanparticipatein Bundesselternverband gehorloser Kinder ( an organization for parentsofdeaf/hohkids(similartotheamerican Society fordeaf Children).