Abstract

Service providers often question whether a student who is hard of hearing (as opposed to Deaf) would qualify for services in postsecondary settings. Specifically, many hard-of-hearing individuals request print accommodations and service providers are often at a loss as to how to evaluate if this is an appropriate accommodation for the individual. The goal of this paper is to help service providers develop an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of various accommodations in the range of learning environments to help them better understand when print accommodations are appropriate. Note: In this paper, culturally Deaf individuals who use American Sign Language are referred to as Deaf. All others are referred to as hard of hearing, no matter what their degree of hearing loss. This group includes individuals with cochlear implants. Hard-of-hearing individuals generally do not know American Sign Language. As you will see, they use a variety of methods to access spoken language.