I want you to run an experiment with me. Go to Google. Type in “deafness.” Look at what pops up—the top five sites. As of right now, as I type this at precisely 9:00 p.m. on August 26th, 2010, those sites belong to:
- Wikipedia
- About.com
- The World Health Organization
- The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- MedicineNet.com
Now go to each one. Click on them. As you do, imagine that you are a hearing parent of a deaf child, and assume the following:
- You just found out your child is deaf (or have begun to suspect he or she is)
- You know little about deafness and need information, and
- You feel varying degrees of fear, guilt, anger, and grief
These are not unreasonable assumptions, you know. How many times have you seen people say exactly that; in scholarly articles, in flame wars raging across the blogs… “Over ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents! They’re overwhelmed and confused! They need guidance!”
Okay. I’m sold. But let me ask you this: If you are confused and overwhelmed and you need information fast, how much patience do you have for digging?
Walk through it with me. Wikipedia. Disregard for the moment claims of its unreliability as a source of correct and unbiased information. As you look through the article, you get a lot of great ideas regarding where to search next, but there is no direct tab or link clearly labeled “resources for parents.” Not that it’s entirely fair to point this out regarding Wikipedia. The site is an online encyclopedia containing info on every topic under the sun, so tabs don’t really enter into it (though links do, and Wikipedia has plenty of those. But that’s just the point. There’s so much to look at, it’s not exactly helping you out if you already feel overwhelmed). On the other hand, Wikipedia does have a “Social Consequences” section that, while for the most part not cited, does provide for interesting insights into some of the conflicts within this community.
Let’s move on to About.com. This is a lot better. You go there and the tabs are easily spotted: “Deafness, Daily Life, Sign Language,” and “Hearing Help.” Granted, “Daily Life” as a heading is a bit vague, but if you go there you’ll see a link right away entitled “Parenting Deaf or Hard of Hearing Children and Teens.” That’s useful. That would be something I’d want to check out. Furthermore, if you scroll down, on the left hand side of the top page you will see a link entitled “Parenting Deaf and HOH.” Here you get a list of what could be helpful books and articles.
Moving on. The World Health Organization’s site largely deals with technical information about and statistics related to deafness. There is no tab or link catering to parents that is immediately apparent. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) is also focused on research. There are tabs for “Home, Health Info, Research, Funding, News and Events, About Us,” and an “A-Z Index” (“P” for ”Parents” contains no information that directly caters to parents). Click around a little bit and you’ll find a “Childhood Milestones” link under “Health Information” that includes a checklist of exactly how a hearing child is supposed to react as he or she becomes older, and that’s helpful. But to repeat, at first glance there is nothing that caters to parents in the sense of there being a stand-alone tab that specifically uses the term “Parents.” (Of course, one can argue that all of these links cater to parents in the sense that they all concern deafness, and if parents are looking for information on deafness, the act of creating the link is in and of itself an act of catering to them. But I in turn argue that simplicity is what most parents would appreciate.)
Now let’s take a look at two organizations that don’t show up in the top five or ten sites on Google: The NAD and AGBELL (the NAD does show up, however, as one of the top five sites under the term “deaf” on Google). The NAD’s site has eight tabs at the top of the page that are immediately apparent (I’m not talking about the “Donate Now” or “Join or Renew” ones in the right hand corner). These include: “Home, About Us, Issues and Resources, Youth Leadership, Community, Events, News and Media,” and “Contact.” Nothing that immediately utilizes the word “Parents.” Of course, if you search the site you’ll soon find much information that is useful.
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing has four tabs at the top, including: “Home, Parents, Professionals,” and “Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adults.” When you click on “Parents,” you get information on a six month membership, a directory of services, parent advocacy training, financial aid, and a number of other topics. If you’re looking for clear information on communication options, however, note that it doesn’t immediately show up right there under “Parents.” It’s in the left hand column on the home page under “Hearing Loss Resources” and then “Communication Options.” Takes a bit of digging, but it’s there.
I’m not here to criticize anyone, especially the designers and owners of the websites I’ve just mentioned. These sites are just examples that I picked. I did not conduct an exhaustive search, or even a very good one. Let me be clear on this, I conducted exactly the type of search I would make if tired and distracted and impatient…
…because I shouldn’t have to conduct an exhaustive search, should I?
Or even a very good one. In fact I shouldn’t have to conduct a search that requires even a minimal amount of digging. If deafness-related organizations truly understand me, truly understand my plight as a parent, then they should be leaping off the page at me. They should be falling over themselves to make it easier for me to find what I need. Isn’t that the whole mentality behind Google, after all? You type in a word, you click on “search,” and bingo, there’s your info. Simple. Then again Google doesn’t technically guide or counsel you, and every single deafness-related organization is in an excellent position to do that, especially online.
I bring this up because California’s whole AB2072 controversy has set me thinking… in a community where everyone is saying “Parents, parents, parents,” why is that term showing up so much in the comments under our blogs and not as much in the layout of our websites? If we’re all about parents, if we care so much about them, what’s our website’s first and clearest message to them? How are we prioritizing the information we want to provide them with? And if bias is such a concern to us all, if we’re so worried that anyone given the power to provide information about all of us can’t by definition provide objective information about any of us, why don’t we all simply provide information about each other, in equal amounts and to equal extents? Why wait for a law to do this for us? Why not simply sit down and agree that we’ll put in a tab that says “Resources for Parents” and then agree on a common message that will go there? The message could say something like this: “We understand that you may be feeling overwhelmed by the raw amount of information on deafness that is being presented to you. We care about you and want to serve you to the best of our ability. While our particular organization promotes a _______ approach to deafness, here is a list of other approaches commonly used by parents as well as links to organizations that represent each.” And then build from there.
Bingo. Simple.
