Challenges Faced by Hearing Impairment Students During COVID-19

Abstract

Social distancing and other protocols required during the COVID-19 pandemic have been particularly difficult for students who are disabled, especially hearing impairments students. During the Covid-19, many disabled students were impacted physically, mentally and their interactions may have been hindered. That could be one of the barriers for full and active participation in society during the Covid- 19. Therefore, this study aims to discover the challenges faced by hearing impairment students how it affects the communication and mainstreaming process. The data was collected from ten hearing impairments students and analysed qualitatively. The participants were aged between 19-22 and currently studying foundation programme in culinary arts in a skill transformation center. The participants were interviewed using impromptu interview questions via WhatsApp, which lasted about ten minutes for each participant. The findings show that there were four challenges faced by the hearing impairment students; hearing devices, disruption to comprehend the lesson, not familiar with the online devices and emotionally affected during online classes. The findings further reveal that the hearing impairment students hampered their social interactions skills towards others during the pandemic. It is hoped the findings would be useful for academicians, counsellors, doctors and other job professions to explore further research on hearing impairments and the framing of methodology to assist the hearing impairments in engaging with the society during the pandemic.