شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

In Saudi Arabia, deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) individuals rarely gain admission to Saudi universities, even though there is a law (i.e. the Disability Code) passed in 2000 to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to post-secondary educational opportunities as their non-disabled peers. In the 16 years since the passage of this law, some attempts were made to enroll D/HH students in Saudi universities. Unfortunately, most of these attempts failed and therefore the actual enrollment of D/HH students in higher education is still limited. Possible reasons may include faculty members’ insufficient knowledge about, and negative attitudes toward, people who are deaf and hard of hearing. A literature review revealed few studies investigating faculty members’ knowledge and attitudes toward D/HH students. This study is designed to investigate the level of knowledge and the attitudes Saudi faculty members have about deaf and hard of hearing students. Data were collected through a convenience survey of selected faculty members in a single Saudi university. All participants in the study were faculty members (N=224) in the Humanities Colleges and Scientific Colleges at the university. A quantitative descriptive correlational analysis on the data revealed that faculty members who participated in the study generally have adequate knowledge about hearing loss and positive attitudes towards enrollment and instruction of this population of students. However, age, college type, academic rank and length of teaching experience were found to have significant effects on the knowledge and attitudes of faculty members, whereas gender was not a discriminating factor. Implications for deaf education in higher education institutions and recommendations for further study are provided based on the results of this study. (Author’s abstract)