Making Research More Inclusive: Insights from the Deaf/HOH Community
As researchers, our mission is to understand and represent diverse perspectives accurately. Yet, too often, we overlook critical considerations that could make our research more accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities. This oversight not only impacts the quality of our research but also perpetuates barriers to participation for significant segments of our population.
In collaboration with the Insights Association's IDEA Council, we're embarking on a research initiative to better understand how to include deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the research process. This project holds particular significance for me as someone born with severe to profound hearing loss who wears two hearing aids. Our goal is to develop better practices for including deaf and hard of hearing participants in research studies, ensuring their opinions are heard (whether verbally spoken or otherwise) and their experiences accurately captured.
Community Insights: Collaborating with For The Deaf Girl
To begin this journey, we partnered with Ryien from For The Deaf Girl, a social media content creator with an active community of deaf and hard of hearing individuals. We posed two key questions to their community about sign language communication and learning. The responses provided invaluable insights that will help shape our approach to inclusive research design. Community members were also given the chance to participate in a paid research-on-research initiative to educate the marketing research profession on their needs as people who sign with American Sign Language (ASL)
Understanding Sign Language Communication
When asked what they wished others knew about communicating in sign language, several crucial themes emerged:
First and foremost, D/HOH community members emphasized that American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, rich language with its own distinct grammar and structure. As one person stated, "It is more than just 'moving your hands.' There is complex grammar and structure." This understanding is fundamental for researchers considering how to design studies that include ASL users and with the right interpreters.
Many highlighted common misconceptions that need addressing. For instance, sign language is not universal – there are many different sign languages worldwide. It's also not simply "English on hands" or mime/gestures, as some might assume. Another person pointedly noted, "It's not the same as English! Two different languages!!!" This is good to recognize as when we’re working on multi-language studies we’re looking for as exact translations as possible, and moving to a visual language like signing, the output will physically look different.
The visual nature of sign language brings both unique capabilities and considerations. Facial expressions and body language are integral parts of grammar, not just emotional indicators. This visual component allows for communication across distances or through windows – aspects that could be leveraged in research design.
Learning and Bridge-Building
When asked about advice for those interested in learning sign language, the community offered valuable insights that parallel our goals for more inclusive research:
Learn from the Community: The strongest theme was the importance of learning directly from deaf and hard of hearing individuals, not to use a workaround or an intermediary. As emphatically stated, "LEARN FROM DEAF FOLKS!!! Native signers." This aligns perfectly with our research initiative's commitment to involving the deaf community in designing better research practices. We’re going straight to source to learn the right way instead of making inferences or assumptions.
Embrace the Learning Process: Many emphasized the importance of patience and persistence. "You don't have to eat, sleep, and breathe sign language... Take it slow," one advised. This reminder about the learning journey's pace applies equally to researchers working to make their studies more inclusive.
Cultural Understanding: Several responses highlighted the importance of learning about Deaf culture alongside the language. As one community member noted, "Learn from someone who also informs you of the culture and history of the language." This cultural context is crucial for researchers to consider when designing inclusive studies.
Looking Ahead
These insights from the For The Deaf Girl community are just the beginning of our journey to make research more inclusive. They highlight both the challenges we need to address and the opportunities for better engagement with the deaf and hard of hearing community in research.
The next phase of our initiative will involve direct research with deaf and hard of hearing individuals to develop specific guidelines and best practices for inclusive research design. We look forward to sharing these findings in a future post.
In the meantime, these community insights remind us that making research more inclusive isn't just about adapting our methods – it's about understanding and respecting different ways of communicating and experiencing the world. As researchers, we have a responsibility to ensure our work reflects and includes all voices in our society.
Ryien partnered with The Social Question as a Question Host - learn more about these opportunities and our process here.
Stay tuned for our follow-up post where we'll share the findings from our research on research initiative and specific guidelines for making research more inclusive for the deaf and hard of hearing community.