Coming to America for the good of a deaf child: The case of Joy

Abstract

Families of children with disabilities must make difficult choices about providing health and educational services that their children need and finding an environment where they can be socially accepted. In this study, parents from Kenya whose daughter is deaf weigh their desire to provide the best life for her against their desire to use their professional expertise to help people in Kenya. This article examines the role of cultural beliefs about disability in this family’s experience. It highlights issues that deserve further research to learn more about how to meet immigrants’ needs in special education, especially immigrant families from African countries with children with disabilities.

Keywords: Africa, deaf, special education, immigration.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0