Descriptions of the American deaf community, 1830-2000: epistemic foundations

Prior to the formation of schools for the deaf in America in the early 19th century, with rare exceptions, deaf people lived under largely solitary conditions. After the formation of such schools they became a community with their own language, organizations and cultural traditions. Several social theorists have proffered various descriptions of the American deaf community. Prior studies have described the American deaf community in medical, disability and cultural terms, tied those to institutional stakeholders and posited no impact by historical changes. I argue that the various descriptions are shaped by epistemes, or social thought, and transformations in epistemes generate changes in descriptions. From 1830 to 2000 there were three major epistemes in American intellectual history. They are romanticism in the first half of the 19th century, modernism in the period from the second half of 19th century to the first half of the 20th century and postmodernism since the mid 20th century.