Social health policies for the inclusion of people who are deaf or hard of hearing

Hearing loss has a negative impact on person’s social functioning. The process of expanding people’s capacity and opportunities to each individual to engage in society on an equal basis, into the public environment is known as social inclusion. Social inclusion is often identified as a goal of policies in relation to certain groups in society, including people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The present study aims to investigate basic strategic and normative documents that regulate rights and obligations directly related to the development of conditions for improving the social functioning of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. The method of document content analysis was used for the research. The analysis includes regulatory documents as well as scientific publications related to the topic. The keywords used for the search were: policies; social inclusion; persons with disabilities; deaf or hard of hearing people. The results identify a link between adopted approaches to disability and realized policies. The analysis shows the need for coordination and greater integration of health and social approaches in the adoption and implementation of policies for social inclusion of people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The obtained results outline the normative framework that regulates the possibilities for implementation of certain measures for social inclusion and identifies the areas in which it is necessary to make additional efforts in order to create conditions for improving the well-being and quality of life of this group of society.