Attitudes of the Hearing Toward People with Hearing Disability

'Blindness separates people from things while deafness separates people from people!' /Helen Keller/ Deafness is not merely a disability one "suffers" from. It is a multi-faceted phenomenon with vast physical, psychological,linguistic, and social implications. Such implications are more disabling in a country such as Ethiopia, where most people grow up rarely being socialized to accept differences in terms of disabilities. In addition to other physical challenges, Ethiopian deaf people in Addis Ababa are likely to face attitudinal barriers as well. This study focuses on the factors that affect attitudes of the hearing toward deaf people in Addis Ababa. It is based on a cross-sectional survey of 370 households sampled using a simple random sampling technique. Qualitative data was collected using focus group discussions and key informant interviews before and after the survey is conducted. The study definitely contributes to the effort in ensuring an appropriate social participation of deaf people in society in Addis Ababa and in analysing systematically the factors that affect the attitudes of the hearing toward deaf people.