Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 22 Issue 11

Social Representations of Deafness and Psychological Suffering in Parents of Deaf Children Sébastien Yougbare α , Kouami Adansikou σ & Zinsou Selom Degboe ρ Abstract- The core problematic of the present study is the relationship between the deaf child and the hearing parents. The objectives of the study are to describe the social representations of deafness and psychological suffering among parents of deaf children, and to establish the link between their suffering and these social representations. It is a cross-sectional study conducted from August 15, 2011 to January 16, 2012 in the ENT department (Oto-Rhino Laryngology) of the CHU (Teaching hospital) Sylvanus Olympio and at the school for the deaf EPHATA in Lomé. A sample of 127 participants was obtained using the all-comers method. The data were collected using the semi-structured interview. The results show that the psychological suffering of parents of deaf children is presented on three spheres: the painful experience of communication between the hearing parents and the deaf child, whose concern about the deprivation of their child's oral communication is more noted at 74.80%.; the parents' experience of the child's disability is more marked by anxiety about the child's future (74.02%) and relationship difficulties (44.88% of the parents), with 44.88% of parents saying that they are or think they are being made fun of by the people around them. On the other hand, 63.78% of parents consider deafness as an act of witchcraft and 29.92% of them have an organic conception of deafness. Overall, we can say that deafness is a handicap that shakes not only the psychological system of the individual affected by this disorder, but also that of their parents. Thus, further studies will be necessary to explore other aspects, especially the effect of deafness on early mother-child interactions, on inter-sibling relationships, etc. Keywords: parents, representations, deafness and psychological suffering. I. I ntroduction aving a child is like a journey that never goes as planned. This is arguably even more true for healthy, able-bodied parents who give birth to a child with a disability. WHO (1988) definition of disability is based on three main concepts: deficiency, inability and disadvantage. The United Nations' umbrella health institution specifies that deficiency is "any loss of substance or alteration of a psychological, physiological or anatomical function or structure" (WHO, 2011). This clarification on the deficiency concept leads us to quote deafness which is any decrease in hearing acuity, regardless of its degree of severity as being a deficiency. The possible causes are numerous: hereditary ear disease, bacterial or viral infection, intoxication, sound trauma, otitis, etc. Thus, in the case of deafness, the inability is audio-vocal communication (to varying degrees) and the social disadvantage can vary; we will quote as examples: access to culture and insertion into the professional world. Perceived as a communication disability, deafness constitutes an emblematic figure of otherness that challenges society in its capacity to welcome, listen to and understand the difference. The pejorative representations (Jodelet, 1984) of deafness are observable in the ordinary use of language. Thus, a commonplace expression such as "dialogue of the deaf" reminds us that in the social imagination, deafness is synonym of failure, overwhelming conflict and non- communication. This expression implies the dubious idea that deaf people cannot dialogue. This negative connotation has very old origins. It is not indifferent that in classical Greek, the term logos means both reason and speech. The ancient definition of man as an "animal endowed with logos " places de facto the deaf-mute in a situation of radical otherness. Numerous testimonies of deaf people and their families show that the difficulty in mastering a language explains in large part this psychological ill-being (Gueydan, 2015). The inability to acquire a language in a natural and spontaneous way in order to communicate leads to multiple difficulties for deaf children, which can cause psychological suffering (Millet, 2001). A study by the "Deafness" subgroup of the "Disability and School Inclusion" working group of the Scientific Council of the French Ministry of National Education revealed that on the perceptions and behaviours related to the health of deaf people, nearly half of the deaf people interviewed said they were in psychological distress, three times more than in the general population (UNISDA, 2011). As for suicide attempts, they concern 13.9% of the deaf compared to 5.5% of the average French people. These difficulties do not spare hearing parents with a deaf child. Indeed, the majority of deaf children are born to hearing parents. These parents find themselves projected into a world they know nothing about, that of deafness. However, one may wonder whether learning that our child is deaf is as easy as learning that our travel destination has been changed. As human beings, we react according to the H © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue XI Version I 1 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 A Author α : Department of Philosophy and Psychology. University Joseph Ki-Zerbo. Ouagadougou-Burkina Faso. e-mail: yougbare.sebastien1706@gmail.com Author σ : Department of Applied Psychology. University of Lomé-Togo. Author ρ : Unit of Psychiatry and Clinical and Health Psychology. CHU (Teaching hospital) Campus of Lomé-Togo.