Funding Deaf People Are Rightfully

Funding

Deaf people are rightfully considered to be an underprivileged segment of the society. Aside from the fact that the physical disability does not allow them to act in a normal manner in the society, the system as well is not providing sufficient help for this underprivileged group. Although there are various programs to support people with hearing problems, they do not reflect the actual extent of the problem and do not cater for all the needs of such individuals.

The right to an education is one of the most important human rights and should be available to every human being, regardless of their physical limitations. However, due to the special situation involving deaf people, they are limited in their access to education without proper financial support. This has nowadays become a crucial issues and has raised a number of questions concerning the ability of the federal and nongovernmental sectors to sponsor and fund educational programs for the deaf people.

The tendency is to increase the number of scholarships (New Zeeland Culture Online, 2006). Nowadays, there is an increasing offer of scholarships such as the one offered by the National Foundation for the Deaf in New Zeeland. Thus, the initiative exists and indeed the offers appear to be generous; however, at the same time they impose certain criteria which does not allow all deaf children to at least apply. From this point-of-view, it can be said that the initiative is limited and will have a limited result as well.

Another means for supporting and financing the education of deaf people is through the promotion of a financial package meant to improve the resources available to special schools and teachers. In this sense, schools in Great Britain for instance receive special funds for training their teachers to reach British Sign Language level 3 (Scottish Council on Deafness, n.d.), to become more aware of the special needs such persons have in the society and the academic environment. At the same time, the recruitment of already trained personal is fully funded in order to have the best teachers available for these special schools.