The Need To Provide The Required Sexual Education To Hearing-Impaired Adolescence

Numerous researches and studies have shown that the most common sensory disability in human history is hearing impairment. Over sixty percent of people and one in eight hundred adolescents have various forms of congenital hearing impairment. A large population of our senior citizens is also living with a various form of hearing deficiencies and various forms health education for assistance.

A most recent event has witnessed a significant turnaround in governmental policies and polity which has led to the tremendous event in the life of citizens with different forms of physical and intellectual challenges. However, the same cannot be said of the society when it comes to issues that relate with sex education program among hearing impaired adolescent and host of other physically challenged individuals. Rather, we have witnessed a total neglect in the need to provide the required sexual education to the timing population of our hearing-impaired adolescence at the community level or at school. It is of urgent importance to provide all our physically challenged adolescents in our community with equal; right to sexual education. To achieve this, it is pertinent that the program is delivered in such format that allows for the proper understanding and individualization of the information being disseminated.

Educators are in the unique environment of being cognizant of their targeted population different abilities and learning styles and are well-positioned to support the decisions being made on when and how much sexuality information a young person should receive. At the same time, parents and guardians should be the primary sex education coaches for their children, regardless of disability status, for many young hearing-impaired adolescents, this is not always the case. For young people with disabilities, it is necessary for educators to engage parents and guardians in developing a plan of instruction that is positive, gradual, and takes into account the individual adolescent developmental and maturity levels and considers the parent/guardians’ beliefs and values.

With the aforementioned stated facts above, my safe sex program will be in the form of a sexual health education workshop, it will take a holistic approach that will incorporates the physical, emotional, intellectual, and social orientation of sex and gender of my targeted population (hearing impaired adolescent). This will ensure that the intervention takes into account each participant ' entire sense of self as male or female as reflected in her or his personality, behavior, and relationships with others. Studies has shown that how people feel about this aspect of themselves affects their self-esteem and thereby influences all aspects of their physical and mental wellbeing, including whether or not they reach their full potential as human beings. Healthy sexual habits is critical for human happiness and fulfillment.

With the above been explicitly stated, I am going to recommend a two-part safe sex program for the hearing-impairing adolescents in my community. The first part will reinforce and ensure the need for comprehensive and accessible sexual health education is clearly stated in my community school curriculum Guidelines for Sexual Health Education. These guidelines will declare that healthy sexual education is a fundamental human right and that sexual health education should be available to all adolescents in my community with a particular focus on the hearing-impaired adolescents. All school in my community will have a school curriculum that addresses sexual education and safe sex habits. The guidelines will make mandatory schools to strengthen their existing sexual health education programs and also mandate them to develop new guidelines that will address these issues. The guideline will encourage health care educators that are saddled with the responsibility of implementing the programs to go beyond simple dissemination of facts to provide educational experiences that will help hearing impaired adolescents develop the motivation and personal insight that is necessary to act on information provided, which will set them up to acquire the skills needed to maintain and enhance sexual health habits, by creating an environment that is conducive to safe sexual health education.

Because there is the need for specific programs for children with hearing Impairments, the second part of my proposed safe sex program for hearing-impaired adolescents in my community will be in the form of a workshop in all the recreational centers and medical facilities in my community. This health workshop will serve the purpose of a Resource Center. This community resource center for adolescents with hearing impairment will employ the services of experts and professionals in the field of hearing impairment, Audiologist, psychologist, Otolaryngologist, nurses, primary care physicians, Speech pathologist, and all relevant healthcare workers.

The purpose and goal of the workshop will be to provide individualized, safe sex information and programs in a format accessible to all adolescents with hearing impairments in my community. The information and programs will incorporate and also provide books related to safe sex education for all adolescents in the community with hearing impairments and as well as their parents. Pamphlets, tapes, and videos on different aspects of safe sex education will also be made available. These materials will be provided in accessible formats of large print, twin-vision, braille overlays on print book pages, and in American sign-language format. The resource center will also house a toy Library. The toy library will make use of a baby girl, and baby boy dolls with gender appropriate clothing teach anatomically approximate to enhance and ensure vivid learning.

Overwhelmingly, researches and scientific studies have shown that Parents play a critical role in the sexuality education of their children. For this purpose, the workshop will also include in the resource center a program termed "The Parents' Guide.” The goal of The Parents' Guide” will be to enhance the awareness of and to help parents meet the special sexuality education needs of their hearing-impaired adolescents. The guide will offer suggestions and information for strategies to be used at various stages of an adolescent’s sexual maturity and orientation. When incorporated with the parent guide, these programs will enable children with hearing impairments to develop and understand their sexuality fully.

Social isolation combined with economic and educational disadvantages is common among adolescents with hearing disability. Many adolescents who are hearing impaired have significant gaps and delays in their understanding of both the social and physical aspects of sexuality. Low self-esteem, poor social skills, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, as well as naivety about sexual anatomy and functions are often apparent. It is indeed going to be a complicated and uphill task in trying to come up with a program that will ensure that the individual difference in this population is met. To overcome this challenge, it is very important that the "The Parents' Guide” aspect of this intervention is thoroughly and successfully executed. Empowering parent has shown to yield a tremendous result when it comes to meeting the grassroots and personalized goal of any community programs targeted to a particular children population. The health care workers on site will also be provided with the environment and opportunity to have a personal relationship with individual adolescents and their families with the aim of meeting the individual needs to meet the needs every hearing-impaired adolescent in the community.

How Much Health Education Is Enough? What is the best Duration, Sequence, and Timing of Health Education. The precise number and sequence of lessons required to achieve significant enduring and effective safe health behavior have not been clearly defined. Such determinations are complicated by uncertainties in what endpoints are desirable or feasible behavior change versus change in knowledge and attitudes. To determine the appropriate duration, Sequence, and Timing of Health Education is one significant challenge that the implementation of this program with this population of hearing impaired adolescents will face. The most accepted appropriate measures to determine the adequate duration of health education so as to effect a healthy habit change would be to deliver the same curriculum using various levels of intensity and duration and then examine differences in the participant's outcomes by differences in curriculum exposure.

Funding challenges affect project delivery of many community-based projects. Hence another challenge that the implementation of this program will encounter is the issue of funding. This program will explore various ways to access community-based funding and grants to ensure that the implementation of this program is a success. These could include activities for hearing impaired to raise fund, donations from philanthropist, volunteer programs, funding from local authorities, grant funding.