Many people suffer from social stigma in which they experience discrimination

because of perceivable social characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other
members of the society. Such characteristics are commonly related to gender, culture,
intelligence and even health.
Focusing on the aspect of health, the society today tend to degrade people who suffer
from either physical or mental illness making them limited to the opportunities the society
can provide such as job opportunities.
One great example of people who are deprived from this opportunity are people who
suffer from hearing impairment or deafness. Which is why I am here to present to you my
chosen advocacy to give music to the silenced ears, an advocacy for the hearing impaired.
What's to know about deafness or hearing impairment?
According to an article written by Christian Nordqvist and reviewed by Dr. Alana
Biggers which is an internal medicine physician, hearing impairment or deafness refers to
the total or partial inability to hear sounds. Symptoms may be mild, moderate, severe, or
profound. A patient with a mild hearing impairment may have problems understanding
speech. While those with moderate deafness may need a hearing aid. Some people who are
severely deaf tend to rely on lip-reading to communicate with others. While people who are
profoundly deaf can hear nothing at all and can find themselves totally reliant on lip-reading
or sign language.
According to Better Hearing Philippines statistics the prevalence of hearing disability
was established at 8.8% of the general population with wax problem, otitis media and non-
infectious conditions as the leading cause. Further, hearing impairment, including mild
forms of hearing loss was at 28%. Prior to the national survey, the Department of Health and
the University of the Philippines conducted a general survey on hearing disability which
ranged to a total percentage of 33%. Furthermore, hearing disability was found to be the 2nd
highest form of disability next to moving disability. According to the DOH National Registry
in 1997, hearing impairment was said to be 17% or 97,957 per 577,345 of the population.
Majority of the hearing-impaired respondents were born deaf while the rest became
deaf before they reached the age of three. In terms of the degree of deafness, majority are
totally deaf in both ears. It is important to take into account the people with hearing
impairment who face difficulties because according to a survey on Hearing Impairments, the
average educational attainment of PWDs is low. Only a third of the respondents have
reached or completed high school level. About one-fourth of them have also either reached
or finished college education. Another one-fourth, on the other hand, have only gone as far
as elementary level (24%) while 8 percent did not even complete any grade. In this
statistics we can easily perceive that people with disability such as the hearing impaired tend
to have a low rate of employment.
So why is this a big concern?
Having these results can bring negative impact to majority of the people who are
experiencing hearing impairment or deafness, especially to the teens today. It can lead them
to think that our community only focuses in giving opportunities to those who are more
capable of doing great things in contributing to the society. And one of the major factors that
should be taken into account is how people are making treatment choices. Many deaf
people feel that the hearing culture treat them as if they are people to be pitied upon and
treats them as though they are incapable of doing things. Another factor is the language
difficulties. Although people who are deaf are capable of reading other people’s lips and
even communicate through sign language, it will never be enough if it means that the hearing
culture will never learn how to communicate the same way the hearing impaired
communicates. Another major factor is education. Although the hearing impaired has the
privileges to have an educational attainment it should be considered that they require special
needs and appropriate education. If a deaf person is capable of learning things the same way
as other people, it is adequate to provide them with equal education rights.
Eliminating the common major factors that affects hearing impaired community will
allow us to slowly establish a society in which both the hearing and non-hearing culture will
be united having no discrimination at hand and no distinguishing one from another.
As part of the Bedan community guided by the core values of prayer, work, peace,
community, service and excellence I am considered reliable in taking into account the matter
of this social stigma. As a Bedan, I am here to recommend and promote solutions that will
effectively help those who suffer from hearing impairment or deafness and it starts with
being involved.