Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 32 - Rehabilitation And Disabilities › Part 22 - Office of Vocational Rehabilitation for the Blind, Resource Guide › Section 32-22-3.6 - DEAF SERVICES PROGRAM › Section 32-22-3.6.1 - Definitions

Current through June 25, 2024
Accident, injury, or poisoning - a traumatic cause of hearing loss, includes noise-induced loss. This cause would encompass, but not be limited to ototoxic agents.
Conductive hearing loss - an occlusion of the external ear or a malfunction of the middle ear generally found with a normally functioning inner ear. This condition can usually be corrected or treated by medicine or surgery.
Congenital condition - a hearing loss that is known or is assumed to have been present at birth. Examples would include, but not be limited to, maternal rubella and hemolytic disease of the newborn.
Deaf-blindness - the term "individual who is deaf-blind" means any individual:
* Who has a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with corrective lenses, or a field defect such that the peripheral diameter of visual fields subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees, or a progressive visual loss having a prognosis leading to one or both these conditions;
* Who has a chronic hearing impairment so severe that most speech cannot be understood with optimum amplification, or a progressive hearing loss having a prognosis leading to this condition;
* For whom the combination of impairments described in a and b cause extreme difficulty in attaining independence in daily life activities, achieving psychosocial adjustment, or obtaining a vocation; and
* Who despite the inability to be measured accurately for hearing and vision loss due to cognitive or behavioral constraints, or both, can be determined through functional and performance assessment to have severe hearing and visual disabilities that cause extreme difficulty in attaining independence in daily life activities, achieving psychosocial adjustment, or obtaining vocational objectives.
The disability codes for deaf-blind are 290 - 298.
Deafness - hearing impairment of such severity that the individual must depend primarily upon visual communications such as writing, lip reading, manual communication, and gestures. The disability codes for deafness are 231 - 259.
Degenerative or infectious disease - a cause of hearing loss that would include, but not be limited to: meningitis, scarlet fever, and diphtheria. (note: a condition present at birth which does not result in a hearing loss until later in life is for reporting purposes, caused by a "degenerative or infectious disease".)
Discrimination ability (speech discrimination) - refers to the individual's ability to hear and understand words through the auditory mechanism. Accurate assessment of discrimination ability is vital in the total vocational rehabilitation program approach for deaf clients.
Hard of hearing - hearing impairment resulting in a functional loss, but not to the extent that the individual must depend primarily upon
visual
communication. The disability codes for hard of hearing are 261 - 289.
Neurosensory hearing loss - dysfunction of the inner ear, the auditory nerve, or a combination of the two in the presence of a normally functioning middle ear - there are no medical corrections for this condition at present.
Pre-lingual hearing impairment - an impairment that is known or is assumed to have occurred prior to the third birthday.
Pre-vocational hearing impairment - an impairment that is known or is assumed to have occurred on or after the third birthday, but before the 19th birthday.
Post-vocational hearing impairment - a hearing loss that is known or is assumed to have occurred on or after the 19th birthday.