A new mentoring forum for deaf and hard-of-hearing academics

While about 17% of the adult population have significant hearing loss, we remain under-represented within academia outside of the field of Deaf Studies. One primary contributor to the leaky pipeline is lack of mentorship due to the difficulty of deaf and hard of hearing academics in recognizing one another. Hearing loss among non-signers is seldom obvious. Consequently, non-signing deaf and hard of hearing academics at predominantly hearing institutions often remain isolated without guidance on how to manage the myriad of communication challenges facing academics, such as teaching, leading group meetings, addressing questions at conferences, participating in discussions at professional meetings, and serving on grant proposal panels. Adequate solutions are often not available from our hearing health care providers nor from disability services offices, which are mandated and designed to serve undergraduate students. However, the success of all academics depends on mastering these different communication cha...