Success of deaf adults: a 30-year scoping review

This scoping review examines how academic, career, and life success of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals has been investigated, as well as which measures have been used to assess success and its associated factors. A search of studies published in English, Spanish and Portuguese between 1992 and 2022 in nine databases was conducted, complemented by a manual search. Of the 18,716 potential records retrieved (18,655 from databases and 61 from the manual search), 67 were included in this review, encompassing a total of 1,233,472 individuals. The results showed a predominant focus on academic and career success and to a lesser extent on life success, an educational and professional gap with the hearing population, gender inequalities among DHH people, and a preference for objective measures of success. A variety of factors influence success trajectories, including social capital, family support, and educational services for academic success; level of education for career success; and positive interpersonal relationships and membership in the deaf community for life satisfaction. Limitations regarding language and quality assessment are acknowledged.