Abstract:
According to the Kenyan Policy document released in 2018, one of the key
challenges facing individuals with hearing impairment is language. The document
indicates that few individuals in Kenya use Kenyan Sign Language to communicate
or are unaware of it hence limiting their participation in social events and everyday
life. There is therefore, need to reduce or do away with such communication barrier.
However, the numerous approaches employed in enabling hearing-impaired
individuals are solely based on the idea of making them “normal”. That is trying as
much as possible to make them learn how to speak and lip read. This process is
strenuous and yields little outcome compared, to the input. This study seeks to
determine the percentage, of the Kenyan population living with hearing impairment
and the factors hindering the hearing impaired from acquiring proper education,
and identify the possible solutions. The study adopted internet-based research
methodology preliminary findings indicated that, the education of the hearing
impaired in Kenya is insufficient, thus making a majority of them unable to integrate
into the larger society, thereby, limiting their participation in social events, and in
workplaces. There is need to advance strategies to minimize these barriers on the
hearing impaired as well as the other learners.
