**11. Acknowledgements**

306 Learning Disabilities

case studies indicate that deaf individuals require two forms of intelligence to maximize their potential: 1) psychosocial skills expected of the common person in addition to 2) psychosocial skills specific to identifying, circumventing, and mastering deafness-related social challenges. Effective use of pragmatics is an example of psychosocial skills expected of the common person. Knowing the value of watching captioned TV/DVD to understand how social interaction may occur is one example of deafness-specific tactic knowledge. Given their inordinate cognitive, professional, and social challenges, the concept of having to master and to use two types of intelligences makes the feat of human endeavor in successful deaf people remarkable. The case studies further indicate that deafness-specific tactic knowledge is learned just like any other specialized skill. Many years of deliberate practice leads to expert performance in the form of attaining, maintaining, and sustaining quality of life. But if this practice is forfeited, denied, or is of a continuous poor quality, the limitations of deafness may cast a stronghold on the individual's ability to actualize their

The deaf individual's sustained daily efforts to maximize their potential, or quality of life, is the outcome of their mostly unseen psychological processes. In the research of expert performance, this is known as the 'iceberg illusion'; we observe simply an individual's performance - their externalized behavior when interacting with us - which is the metaphorical iceberg's tip (Ericsson & Simon, 1984). Hidden is the submerged evidence of their performance, or direct behavior toward us - the outcome of their cognitive process, or numerous processes, operating concurrently. This unseen quality of human performance may explain why a person without a disability may have difficulty understanding or empathizing with disability-specific psychosocial strategies. They themselves do not use these skills nor contend with disability-related challenges – daily for a lifetime. This issue is of vital importance when considering many, if not most, significant others in a deaf person's life – family, friends, and partners, as well as strangers and acquaintances - are typically not deaf themselves. The same can be said of deafness-related researchers and service providers. A deaf individual's sophisticated hard-earned cognitions and efforts can easily be

According to Gladwell (2009), *opportunity* is the crucial twin to *practice* for potential to be fully maximized. Opportunity consists of a coalition of external factors necessary for the nurturing of an individual's potential. Examples are the accommodations made by parents and the educational system being important factors for optimal psychosocial functioning whether the deaf child had a CI or not (Leigh et al., 2009). While an absolute necessity for potential maximization, the provision of opportunity - commonly worded as providing 'access' in the disability literature - can have a flaw. It can assume that access – in the form of services or improved hearing technology - will translate instantly into participation for the individual. Much, however, is dependent on the quality of service provision or social interaction *when access is gained*. For example, access to a psychologist – an expert in their own right – may be a futile venture for a deaf client if the psychologist knows nothing of the specialized psychosocial skills for identifying, circumventing, or mastering deafness-related challenges (Jacobs, 2007). Without adequate support, deaf children can be vulnerable to isolation within their own families or schools and be deemed 'problem children' (Fellinger et al., 2005). People who become deaf in adulthood can face a similar predicament in the workplace, and in their social and romantic endeavors. Quality of service provision is

potential.

discounted or overlooked.

The author wishes to thank his PhD supervisors Associate Professor Margaret Brown of the University of Melbourne and Dr Louise Paatsch of Deakin University in Australia. Advice from Dr Anthony Hogan of the Australian National University regarding mental health and deafness was valuable too. Correspondence with Professor Paul Gerber of Virginia Commonwealth University and Professor Henry Reiff of McDaniel University was also appreciated.
