The Deaf and the Hard-of-Hearing in the Occupational World. Bulletin, 1936, No. 13
Author: Martens, Elise H.
Date: 1937-00-00
Type: Historical Materials
Subjects: Employment Level,Career Guidance,Deafness,Hearing Impairments,Equal Opportunities (Jobs),Job Skills,Occupations,Employers,Surveys,Sampling,Age Differences,Racial Differences,Severity (of Disability),Communication Strategies,Interpersonal Communication,Etiology,Access to Education,Educational Attainment,Vocational Education,Unemployment,Census Figures,Males,Females,Gender Differences,Wages,Special Schools,Attitude Measures,Success

The survey to determine occupational opportunities for the deaf and the hard-of-hearing was conducted as an approved Federal project under the Civil Works Administration. It was planned and directed by the United States Office of Education. The project was conceived primarily as a study related to the vocational guidance of deaf and hard-of-hearing young people. If handicapped children are to be helped to realize their greatest potentialities occupationally, one must know in which types of occupations handicapped adults are now most successfully engaged. One must know, too, the relationship of success in a given occupation to other factors, such as degree of deafness, command of speech, and education. These items must be coupled with a knowledge of the pupil as a person--his individual capabilities and interests, his temperament, and his emotional equipment. Thus an adequate guidance program looking toward vocational sell-realization takes into consideration, on the one hand, the individual's assets and liabilities, and, on the other hand, the world of employment in which he must find a place. Some occupational studies related to the deaf and the hard-of-hearing have been made by other investigators, but in the present survey it has been possible to utilize a larger sampling than those which have hitherto been available, and at the same time the statistical analysis has included a consideration of certain factors not previously investigated. It is believed, therefore, that the findings of the study should have some significance in relation to the education of the deaf and the hard-of-hearing. If the schools are to give intelligent guidance for vocational activities, they must adjust their curricula to conditions as they are, not as they have been in the past nor yet as educational leaders would like to see them. This applies to the education of hearing and non-hearing alike. It was not the object of the survey to make an exhaustive enumeration of deaf and hard-of-hearing adults in the country nor even in those States in which the investigation was carried on, but rather to secure a sampling of those adults who were or had been employed that was large enough to show definite trends. Hence strategic points were selected in the several States which might be the centers of activity for the surrounding territory. Following an introduction, the following topics are covered in this bulletin: (1) General Description of the Sampling; (2) Employment Status of the Sampling; (3) Types of Occupations Followed; (4) Occupational Success; (5) Employers' Statements; and (6) Implications of the Findings. A list of selected references is provided. (Contains 48 tables, 9 figures, and 30 footnotes.) [This bulletin was prepared in collaboration with Kenneth Braly, Percival Hall, Jr., Helmer Myklebust, Sam D. Palmer, Alice F. Rowell, and Isabelle Walker. Best copy available has been provided.]