Hear the Unheard: Social Support and Social Exclusionof the Deaf athletes

• Main Authors: Kai-Hsiang Ning, 甯楷翔
• Other Authors: Yi-Hsiu Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8tjtyk

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 新聞研究所 === 107 === In this community of globalization, normal athletes and athletes with physical and mental disabilities both faced challenges while making their way to become top players; however, the efforts behind the spotlights that they had put in through the years are seldom visible to the public. The reality is athletes with hearing-impaired disabilities are not peculiar from normal athletes. If athletes want to stick to their career, one must endure the hardship of training, and face the pressure of obtaining sports sponsorship to ensure his or her future on the field. Moreover, winning a title and gaining points to stay at the top of the rankings are hard, not to mention winning the Deaflympics title for the athletes country. People who are physically challenged often-required social support and the help of important others, such as family, friends and coaches. Most of the disabled athletes in Taiwan normally face social exclusion in their childhood even before becoming professional athletes. Hearing-impaired, or so-called “Deaf” athletes, ask for no mercy or sympathy from others, but rather the respect and basic human rights that every one deserves. The author believes it’s a remarkable thing that the athletes, who are either congenial or postnatal hearing-impaired, fight for the change of perceptions from the public through sports, no matter what discrimination they faced from the society at an early stage. This was also the reason why the author chooses the stories of the three deaf athletes who have strived to be the best in the field of their sports, and documented the journey of these deaf athletes competing for the Taiwan National Disabled games. This In-depth documentary had documented the three deaf athletes for more than half a year, and it focuses very closely on the situation of the hearing-impaired athletes. With the purpose of helping the potential disabled athletes that were stifled in the education system, and allowed the public to understand the "obstacles" and "differences" among the disabled people. Through the records of Chen Chuan-Ni, Fan Rong-yu and Zhu Jun-zhe, this coverage have had been documented from December 2017 to June 2018. This report hoped to discover the dilemma and challenges faced by the hearing-impaired athletes in Taiwan. The study found that the most important sources of social supports for people with physical and mental disabilities was their important others. In addition, the encouragement from family, peers, coaches, corporate sponsorship, and the government''s cultivation of people with disabilities played a crucial role in the career of athletes with hearing disabilities. Social exclusion also greatly affected them mentally, especially in the adolescent stage.