Education and employment in America: my quest for self-actualization as a person with hearing loss

C. Jonah Eleweke

doi:10.1515/mlt-2022-0004

Article

Education and employment in America: my quest for self-actualization as a person with hearing loss

Published/Copyright: April 8, 2022

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From the journal Multicultural Learning and Teaching Volume 17 Issue 1

Abstract

Evidence indicates that some Africans, with or without special needs or disabilities highly target attending U.S. colleges and universities for further education. Typically, most of these people had obtained their bachelor’s degrees in institutions of higher education in their countries. The desire to travel to U.S. for graduate studies could be due to factors such as the absence of desired graduate programs, limited admission opportunities in institutions of higher education, and social, political, and economic instabilities in African countries. For Africans with special needs or disabilities, the lack of support services in tertiary institutions in their countries is a major factor for their strong desire to go the U.S. for higher education. Some Africans educated in U.S. colleges and universities may, on completion of their programs of study, decide to seek suitable employment opportunities in the U.S. From afar, they are still able to make positive contributions to the social, economic, and political developments of their home countries. I am one of those graduates who decided to work in the U.S. In this article, I share my experiences.

Keywords: education; employment; positive contributions; self-actualization; special needs/disabilities; support services

Corresponding author: C. Jonah Eleweke, World Languages and Literatures, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA, E-mail: jeleweke@pdx.edu

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Note: The term “Deaf” is used here as a shortened reference to being a member of the Deaf community. That is, the person who has a hearing loss (regardless of the degree of loss), uses American Sign Language (or any other national sign language) and takes pride in his or her deafness. Deafness is not considered a “handicap.” Members of the Deaf community consider themselves a linguistic and cultural minority.

Received: 2022-03-17

Accepted: 2022-03-18

Published Online: 2022-04-08

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2022-0004

Keywords for this article

education; employment; positive contributions; self-actualization; special needs/disabilities; support services