Perspectives and reviews on deafness in the State of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates

THIS CHAPTER provides information, analyses, and insights on deafness in the State of Kuwait and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It represents the first time such an approach has been taken in a comprehensive manner. Because of the extreme shortage of documents to prepare this chapter, the author relied on his personal experiences, a few published works on these two countries, anecdotal reports and personal contacts with practitioners in deafness, internal memoranda, all available official documents, and classrooms observations. Kuwait and UAE are located on the Arabian Gulf east of Saudi Arabia. The two countries have been influenced by Western lifestyle while at the same time observing traditional local tribal lifestyle. One of the influences of tribal lifestyle has been the practice of hiding individuals with disabilities for fear of stigmatizing the families and labeling the children. Kuwait and UAE are mainly dependent on oil revenues, although UAE has recently started to capitalize on and to emphasize tourism. The economic prosperity in these two countries has not been accompanied with improved and high-quality special educational services. The current services for the deaf population are fragmented with no clear vision for proper teacher-preparation programs, curricula, and future contributions to the community. The available programs and the future outlook for this group of students are disappointing as depicted in the following documentation and analysis of progress.