ABSTRACT
The term ‘therapy’ usually implies the remedial treatment of a disease or other physical or mental disorder. Because of this connotation, there are many hearing impaired individuals and professionals in the field of music therapy that could, and understandably so, take exception to the title of this chapter. The deaf community has made great strides in recent years to depathologise their disability. Deafness is no longer viewed as a medical condition, a deficit in need of treatment. The only true handicap related to deafness is being cut off from the usual means of acquiring and transmitting language. As a result, most deaf individuals communicate manually rather than orally. They regard this alternative form of communication as their only ‘difference.’ Consequently, one can understand their resentment in being considered a client in need of therapy, music or otherwise. Music therapists do not offer or provide services for other non-native speaking populations; solely on the basis of their communication status. The loss of hearing, however, has many implications for the development of communication skills. It is during the process of acquiring communication skills that music therapists can contribute to the development of hearing impaired individuals.
