Equal chances for Young Deaf People in Europe In this new project we will research a new subject which is labour and social inclusion and the interaction of our deaf students with hearing students. We want to compare the different situations in the different countries and at the different schools to find out if inclusion is possible and if our deaf and impaired hearing students have any chance to live a normal life among hearing people once they leave school. It would be very interesting to see what students experience in their further education after secondary school or vocational training and also how easy it is for them to find suitable work and how they do in their first jobs. A main question we share is: is Europe prepared to accept deaf people as a labour force? We will make a research on how and how many deaf people go to University or accomplish a Higher VET degree. We would like to prove that deafness is a major disability since it affects the person cognitively and when attention to this fact comes late -as it is the case of most children in many countries years ago, those who are adults now when they come to us- their educative level, connected to their poor command of Oral Language, makes it very difficult and, in the case of hard of hearing, an invisible disability, teachers who are not familiar with them tend to think that they are absent minded, lazy or not interested at all. We also want to compare the different ways in which schools prepare students for life after secondary school, do we equip our students well enough with knowledge, realistic ideas about opportunities, are they prepared for the obstacles they will face and strong enough to overcome them? In this project we would like to work with hearing students as well. Some of the participating schools are exclusively for the deaf, others are departments within larger regular schools. The schools with only deaf students can organize activities locally Research can include deaf associations, teachers' associations, local authorities, companies and Higher Education institutions. Student mobilities in this project will add: 1.Development of a social network 2. Gaining international (travelling) experience and European awareness. 3. Practicing international communication with the help of sign languages and English (written and spoken) 4. Using modern media in our own international network (as we do now through Facebook, skype and the blog we have) This is a great additional aspect, that directly improves the lives of our students and broadens their horizons. Three things stand out in this project: 1. We will work with deaf, impaired hearing and hearing students, who can compare their experiences and set up ideas for early integration in a way that appeals to young people, how can they help each other, where can they co-operate, they will be active in coming up with ideas and solutions themselves 2. Our students will be involved in this project during their secondary schooltime. Our students need to be aware of the difficulties and challenges that await them, in order to be better prepared. By making them part of the project, we give them a different role, they will be our fellow reseachers, in order to help others in the future, including themselves. 3. We will share with all European schools the outputs and the intercultural idea of Deaf. We are dealing with a linguistic minority in each country with a proper culture not always completely understood.
Equal opportunities for young deaf people in Europe has been the focus of our work. In this project we have researched in the field of social and labor inclusion, and the interaction of our deaf students with the hearing students. We have compared the different situations in different countries and schools to see if inclusion is possible and if our deaf and hard-of-hearing students have any chance of living a normal life among hearing people once they leave school. We have observed what students experience in their post-secondary education or vocational training and also the difficulty that it entails for them to find an adequate job and how they work in them. One of the main questions we initially raised was: is Europe ready to accept deaf people as a workforce? We have done research on how and how many deaf people go to university or achieve a degree in Vocational Training. We wanted to demonstrate that deafness is an important disability, since it can affect the person cognitively, and when the attention to this fact is late, as is the case of most children in many countries, they reach secondary school with a low level educational, that connected to his poor command of oral language, makes insertion very difficult. And in the case of people with hearing problems, an invisible disability, teachers who are not familiar with them tend to think that they are distracted, lazy or not interested in different subjects. We have also compared the different ways in which schools prepare students for life after high school, do we have enough equipment for our students, with knowledge and realistic ideas about opportunities? Are they prepared for the obstacles they will face and are they strong enough to overcome them? In this project, we have also worked with hearing students. Some of the participating schools are exclusively for the deaf, while others have only a small department dedicated to them. Schools with deaf students exclusively have the capacity to organize activities at the local level of greater importance. With the mobility of students in this project has been achieved: 1. Development of a social network. 2. Obtain international experience (traveler) and European awareness. 3. Practice international communication with the help of sign languages and English (written and spoken). 4. Use modern means in our own international network (through Facebook, Skype and the blog we have). This is an additional aspect of great relevance that directly improves the lives of our students and broadens their horizons. Three things stand out in this project: 1. We have worked with students with total deafness and students with hearing and language problems, who can compare their experiences and establish ideas for early integration in an attractive way for young people, how they can help each other, where they can cooperate, being active in the search for ideas and solutions. 2. Students have participated in this project during their study time in high school. By making them part of the project, we have given them a different role, have been our fellow researchers, helping others in the future or helping each other. 3. We have shared with all European schools the results and the intercultural idea of the deaf. We have dealt with a linguistic minority in each country, with a culture and society that does not always understand its difficulties and helps integration.