Dana Miles: Embarking on a Magical Journey for Deaf Students
Part 5 of 5 in a series
Dana Miles, the 2023 Washington State Teacher of the Year, has produced a multimedia project in partnership with OSPI. This five-part series is comprised of video interviews that Dana conducts with experts on Deaf education, as well as articles she wrote to accompany each video.
This is the final part of the series. Find all parts of the series here:
Key Question
What can we do to prepare Deaf students as they graduate from high school?
Introduction
Comedian, writer, and former TV host Trevor Noah says in his book Born a Crime: “English is the language of money. English comprehension is equated with intelligence. If you’re looking for a job, English is the difference between getting the job or staying unemployed.” In short, the more proficient you are in English, the more opportunities you will have.
According to statistics published by the National Deaf Center in 2019, 53.5% of Deaf people were not in the labor force; 32.2% DeafDisabled people reported being employed, and more of them work part-time than Deaf people without additional disabilities. Many underlying factors contribute to those issues.
As Deaf students approach graduation, regardless of their English language proficiency skills, there are different ways we can prepare them for success. Daniel Veit, a Deaf staff member at Texas School for the Deaf, worked in the field of Work Experience with Deaf students for more than 20 years. He will share some tips, ideas, and strategies to better prepare Deaf students for the working world as they approach graduation.
About Daniel Veit
Daniel Veit has over 20 years of experience in career development and education, spanning high school and higher education. During his time at Gallaudet University, he played a role in creating new career development courses for incoming students, including drafting proposals and developing a curriculum to help them prepare for their future internships and employment opportunities. In the past 12 years at the Texas School for the Deaf, Daniel has been involved in the Career & Technical Education program, working with various programs in different career clusters.
Guiding Discussion Questions
- Did the statistics on the labor force for Deaf people surprise you? Why or why not?
- What kind of workplace accommodations would Deaf people need?
- Identify different types of communication tools for Deaf people.
- What are the differences between accommodations and accessibility?
- Do you have any other ideas we should consider to prepare Deaf students for the working world?
- How can we use Americans with Disability Act (ADA) laws for people with disabilities to their benefit? What are the limitations of the ADA laws? How would you overcome these limitations?
- If you could change something about our hiring processes or implement a policy in place for people with disabilities, what would you do?
Additional Resources
- National Association of the Deaf: National Employment Resource Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
- National Deaf Center: Transition
- National Deaf Center: Research and Data
- National Deaf Center: Deaf 101
- Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS): Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services
- National Deaf Center: A Toolkit for #DeafSuccess
- National Deaf Center: Serving Deaf Students in Higher Education
- National Deaf Center: Student Resource Portal
DISCLAIMERS: This article was written by Dana Miles, the 2023 Washington State Teacher of the Year. The author’s opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints do not necessarily reflect those of OSPI, and publication of this story does not constitute OSPI’s approval or endorsement of its contents. With questions, please contact OSPI’s Communications team at commteam@k12.wa.us.
Dana’s use of the term “Deaf” includes, but is not limited to, different types of members of the deaf community: Deaf, deaf, Hard of Hearing, DeafBlind, and DeafDisabled. Dana uses the term “sign language” in place of American Sign Language (ASL) to include all sign languages worldwide. The terms used here are meant to be inclusive.
