Acquired Deafness and the Family: A Problem for Psychologists

Abstract

The paper assembles evidence from published research and from a recent study in Belfast that acquired deafness tends to create problems in afflicted families. There is limited support for claims that the family can greatly facilitate or impede adjustment by a deafened person, but it is clear that many of the problems which deafened people face arise within the family, and that the presence of a deafened person in the family can stress its other members. Though relatively little is known about the effects of factors such as age at onset and level of deafness, there are recurrent indications that they are relevant to adjustment. Existing theoretical models tend to suggest that problems with deafness reflect irrational or inadequate behaviour on the part of at least one of the parties involved. However, cognitive psychology helps to suggest why the apparently flimsy barrier of acquired deafness creates such problems.