Deaf childhoods and inclusive early childhood education and care

[Introduction]: "On April 22, 2021, the Canadian Government released a budget that puts forward funding for a national $10 per day childcare plan. This is a significant accomplishment for childcare advocates who have been fighting for a universal system for years. It is significant to remark that advocates have long called for the system to be inclusive and accessible. The government outlined these principles in the 2017 Multilateral Early Learning and Childcare Framework, stating that childcare should be high-quality; accessible, affordable and flexible; and inclusive (Government of Canada, 2017). The budget outlines funding that has very few provisions to ensure these principles are enacted. In this budget, the only reference to accessibility in childcare is funding to improve physical accessibility in up to 400 childcare centres. In Ontario alone, there are more than 5,565 centres (Government of Ontario, 2020). Physical accessibility does not account for the many other aspects of access that are lacking in childcare in Canada. In this brief, we consider access and quality from the standpoint of deaf and hard of hearing children and their families. 

The IECSS project focuses on disability in childhood. However, 21 participants identified that their children are deaf or hard of hearing (for some, it is temporary). In addition, almost all participants across our larger sample of 136 families have interacted with systems of infant hearing screening."