CODA Festival Conference

Research shows that 90% of children born to deaf parents can hear. They are often identified by the abbreviated term “CODA” or Children of Deaf Adults. Hearing CODAs grow up in deaf culture from which they learn sign language from their parents. They are sometimes perceived as a “hidden minority” amongst the majority population because they remain invisible to the professionals in the fields of social work, family welfare, schooling, employment education, psychology, counselling and psychotherapy. This lack of attention to CODAs occurs because of attention is often fixated on the needs of deaf parents and siblings. Furthermore, CODAs are seen to belong to the “normal” social identity group despite the fact that they experience a range of negative social attitudes and stigmatization. The international CODA literature – articles, books, and autobiographies – has well-documented CODA’s roles as “cultural brokers” by which they mediate relationships and information between their deaf…