Effects of Anti-audism on the Social Development of Deaf Persons in Limbe City Council Area
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of anti-audism on the social development of Deaf persons in Limbe City Council Area. The Research Question was: What impact does anti-audism have on the social development of Deaf persons? A sequential explanatory design was used. The sample comprised 13 Deaf persons and 411 hearing people selected using snowball sampling technique. The instruments used were a questionnaire and an interview guide. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools and SPSS version 25.0 was used for advanced data cleaning. The hypotheses was tested using the Likelihood ratio test and the Chi-Square value was converted into Contingency Coefficient value interpreted on a scale of 0 to 1 to determine the impact size that the variable has on the dependent variable. The numerical value for the effect size, rs ranges between -1 and +1 determining the extent to which the predictors influence the criterion. rs = 0 implies no effect size; rs =< 0.20 is extremely low effect size; rs = 0.20 – 0.39 is low effect size; rs = 0.40 – 0.59 is moderate; rs = 0.60 – 0.79 is high; rs = 0.80 – 0.99 is very high and 1.00 implies a perfect effect size. The narrative analysis was used for qualitative data and findings presented using frequency distribution with all inferential statistics presented at 95% level of confidence interval with alpha set at 0.05 levels, accepting 5% margin of error. Descriptively, majority of respondent 96.6%, 97.4%, indicated that anti-audism promotes social development of Deaf persons. The p-values of the indicator was < 0.001 < 0.05, and the contingency coefficient being within 0.40-0.59 indicating moderate association. Anti-audism accounts for 29.0%, (Pseudo R-Square = 0.290). In response to the predictor, Deaf persons said they feel happy, good, fine, secured, welcomed, belonged, loved and accepted when their hearing neighbours regard them as equal humans beings, interact with Deaf persons, greet them in sign language or make effort to sign and that they feel included using applications like Whatsapp, Messenger, Facebook, Twiter and many as they connect them to the world. The researcher recommended that sign language be made compulsory for learners at all levels of education so that Deaf persons can feel belonging and maximally interact with everyone.