ABSTRACT
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regarding adult physical disabilities, American society exhibits a variety of statistics. Among noninstitutionalized adults, ages 18 years or older, the characteristics of American society are as follows:
• Quantity of adults with hearing difficulty: approximately 37.1 million (or approximately 16.0%) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013a)
• Quantity of adults with vision difficulty: approximately 21.2 million (or approximately 9.2%) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013a)
• Quantity of adults who are unable to walk at least a quarter of mile: approximately 17.6 million (or approximately 7.6%) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013a)
• Quantity of adults who have any physical functioning difficulties: approximately 37.4 million (or approximately 16.2%) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013a)
• Quantity of adults who have a minimum of one complex activity constraint or basic action difficulty: approximately 74.6 million (or approximately 32.9%) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013a)
Data sets are available regarding physical disability and the sense of hearing. Deafness is defined as the inability to “hear” and “lacking or deficient in the sense of hearing” (Merriam-Webster, 2013b). Hearing impairment is defined as “decreased ability to hear and discriminate among sounds” (March of Dimes, 2013). Individuals who have hearing impairment may be completely deaf or may have varying amounts of hearing. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the following attributes are representative of hearing impairment within American society:
Certainly, some of these individuals will experience an interaction with the justice system in some fashion, thereby necessitating communication. Some may be plaintiffs or defendants. Others may be employees or contractors within the justice system. Although written communication may be acceptable in some cases, many people communicate using sign language. Within the justice system, sign language interpreters may be used to communicate with individuals who have some form of hearing impairment. Figure 18.1 shows the symbols that comprise the alphabet using sign language.
