Introduction

This chapter introduces the motivations behind this book project. Growing up in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, I attended mainstream schools without accommodations. When I moved abroad to study, I had access to certain accommodations—namely, notetakers and interpreters—for the first time. With the benefit of improved communication access, I earned my bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees. After a 13-year academic journey, I returned to Japan and became the first deaf faculty member at the University of Tsukuba. I was surprised by the disparity between the level of accommodations provided to deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students and faculty members. Many universities have yet to conduct research on the provision of services for DHH faculty members and only cater to the needs of DHH students. As a result of my experiences and a sincere desire to improve the situation for all DHH faculty members, I applied for and was granted funding for my research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant Number: 21K13457). I decided to conduct a mixed methods study and write this book to circulate my results and improve the support systems available to DHH faculty members worldwide.