| The d/Deaf are a historically and contemporarily marginalized population that deserve more visibility within counseling literature (Peters, 2007; Wright & Reese, 2015). To date, counselor education literature is substantially lacking in culturally-affirming research on the experiences of individuals who are d/Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (HH) in clinical and educational contexts (Hanks & Hill, 2015). My study sought to understand the lived experiences of counseling students who are d/Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (HH) in masters and doctoral CACREP-accredited programs in the United States. This research was conducted using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009), and six superordinate themes were discovered: a) Identity Development, b) Pioneering and Persevering, c) Heightened Responsibility, d) A Call to the Profession, e), Professional Calling and Purpose, and f) Battling Discrimination and Surviving Stigma. Recommendations for counselor education programs are provided to promote inclusivity and multicultural competency within the profession.
Keywords: Counselor Education, Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Student, Minority |