PP105 - Microaggression Experiences in Individuals with Hearing Loss

Here we explore microaggression experience of those with hearing loss through the ableist microaggression scale which has seven categories: Denial of Identity, Denial of Privacy, Helplessness, Secondary Gain, Spread Effect, Patronization, and Second-Class Citizenship. In addition, we included questions categorized as De-sexualization or that could be categorized as “microinsults”.

Results will be summarized and implications discussed in context of microaggression categories. Results indicate those with hearing loss occasionally experience microaggressions but not in all categories. This study underlines some of the psychosocial impacts of hearing loss that many audiologists may not have considered for their patients or for themselves. 

Summary:

Individuals with hearing loss may experience behaviors based on implicit biases, assumptions and perceptions of what it must be like to have a disability. These behaviors known as microaggressions are defined as: “a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group” (retrieved from merriam-webster.com). These microaggressions may be based on ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or disability.  Ableist microaggressions perpetuate prejudice and discrimination against people with disabilities including those with hearing loss (Sue 2010).  Understanding these experiences is not only beneficial in understanding and supporting patients with hearing loss but also the many audiologists who have hearing loss themselves.

Here we explore the microaggression experience of those with hearing loss through the validated ableist microaggression scale (AMS-65) (Kattari 2020). The AMS-65 has seven categories of behaviors: Denial of Identity, Denial of Privacy, Helplessness, Secondary gain, Spread Effect, Patronization, and Second-Class Citizenship. In addition to the entirety of the AMS-65, we included three questions categorized as Desexualization from the original eight microaggression categories described in Keller & Galgay (2010) and included in Conover, et al. (2017).  The online survey also contained six questions that could be categorized as “microinsults” or behaviors that were intentionally discriminatory (Conover, et al. 2017), and the opportunity for participants to describe a personal microaggression experience.   Flyers with a link to the survey were posted across campus and distributed to people known to have life-long hearing loss including audiologists with hearing loss through email and social media.

Results for individuals with hearing loss who completed the survey will be summarized and discussed in context of the eight microaggression categories. Preliminary results indicate those with hearing loss occasionally experience microaggressions. There were fifteen questions that had median scores of at least “occasionally” (median score of 2 or more) while the remaining 53 questions had median scores of “rarely” (1) or “never”(0). Twelve of those questions rated at least “occasionally” were from six of the eight microaggression categories, excluding de-sexualization and secondary gain. Two microinsult questions also were indicated to be experienced “occasionally”. The personal microaggression experiences could be categorized as Denial of Identity, Denial of Privacy, Helplessness, Patronization, Spread Effect, Second-Class Citizenship, De-sexualization and Microinsults. This study underlines some of the psychosocial and potential mental health impacts of hearing loss that audiologists may not have considered for their patients or for themselves.