Cultures in Contact: Deaf and Hearing People

Despite their relative invisibility, deaf people have a well established position in our special education and social services. They are a group to be cared for. Yet they have not always been like that nor do we believe they should be seen only in this light. This paper examines how social pressures have acted on deafness in work, in education, in the professionalisation of services, have impinged on deaf people themselves, and have created a misunderstood and under-estimated minority. We consider the current situation of deaf people in terms of their lack of power, the new emergence of their language and culture and the use of signing in education. All of these aspects highlight the need to reconsider our treatment of deaf people and the paper encourages some self-examination of professional roles.     

Current Realities and Future Opportunities for Social Work Education

An undergraduate social work curriculum has been enriched to include specific content for students training to work with deaf clients. The unique aspects of deafness examined in this paper include the characteristics of the deaf population, communication skills, and sensitivity to the minority status of deaf people. Content in each of these areas is reviewed as an illustration of specialty material in a generalist curriculum and as a plea for social work education to become more responsive to the special service needs of the deaf.     

Reflections of a Group of Deaf Adults on Their Experiences in Mainstream and Residential School Programs in the United States

The purpose of this study was to learn about mainstream and residential school programs for deaf students in the United States from the perspective of the deaf person, and to present the experiences of clients of educational services in their own words. Data for this paper were collected through open-ended, in-depth interviews with 25 graduates from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (NTID at RIT). The comments of informants suggest that there are advantages and disadvantages inherent in each educational model. For example, the selection of one model over another may involve 'trading' academic for social opportunity. In particular, it is suggested that both kinds of school experiences play a critical role in the socialization of deaf people and the development of deaf community. It is recommended that further research be conducted to learn more about the perspectives of deaf people on educational services and to explore with them the long term as well as the immediate impact of different kinds of school environments.     

Supporting Asian Deaf Young People and their Families: the role of professionals and services

This paper discusses how Asian deaf young people and their families engage with welfare provision. Our findings, based on group and individual interviews with young deaf people and individual interviews with their parents, explore the assumptions underlying current provision and how they influence the options available to young people and their families. The paper suggests that the welfare state exerts a form of social control where professional help, although well intended, may disempowers Asian deaf people by privileging 'oralism' over sign language, and western norms over other cultural values. On the other hand, positive constructions of deafness privilege Deaf identity while failing to accommodate ethnic or religious diversity, resulting in Asian deaf young people and their families having an ambivalent relationship with the Deaf community. We argue that services need to recognise and address the reasons for this ambivalence if they are to adequately engage Asian deaf people and their families.     

Jargons for deafness as institutional constructions of the deaf body

Jargons for deafness are seen here as social institutional constructions of the deaf body. Social institutions develop agendas commensurate with their view of the place of deaf people in society, create jargons to define its deaf clientele base and proffer programmes to construct them. This study examines current jargons developed by constellations of 'healing', 'helping' and 'agencist' social institutions developed in the USA since 1990 in light of their purposes and practices.     

Social Work with Groups,Helen Northen. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969. 270 Pages. $7.50 Hardbound

In 1970 Gallaudet College initiated undergraduate social work education. The purpose was to increase professional opportunities for deaf students and to provide deaf people with the social services they do not ordinarily receive. The needs of both student and client groups are discussed, with emphasis on teaching techniques and skills required to serve the deaf population. Hearing students can acquire the necessary skills with provision made for adequate communication, and with the introduction of courses on deafness in social work programs.     

Constructions of Deafness

As a social problem, deafness can be variously construed. Each of the primary constructions of deafness today - disability and linguistic minority - has its archetypes but most deaf children match neither of them. Organizations espousing each construction compete to 'own' deaf children and define their needs. As with service providers for blind people, the troubled-persons industry associated with deafness seeks conformity of the client to the underlying construction of deafness as disability. Some spokespersons in the disability rights movement have joined service providers in promoting the disability construction of all deafness. This neglects the fact that the DEAF-WORLD has a distinct culture and that deafness is constructed differently in that culture than it is in national cultures of hearing peoples. The implications of a shift toward the linguistic minority construction for deaf children and adults, the obstacles to such change, and the forces promoting change are examined.     

Abuse and deaf children: Some factors to consider

Deaf children are uniquely disadvantaged in terms of access to information on safety and abuse. This is often due to misunderstood linguistic and cultural needs which relate to the deaf community. Consequently, a greater number of children who are deaf are placed in potentially abusive situations when compared to their non-deaf peer group. A high percentage of deaf children have also acquired negative self-concepts. This is often due to external influences such as educational experiences and family communication. Many deaf children believe that abuse is part of their being deaf. The implications of this are that deaf children are at risk of neglect and abuse as well as long-term damage to their emotional development and self-esteem. A number of survivors of physical and sexual abuse have been referred to the National Centre for Mental Health and Deafness, Preston. Some of these referrals have been inappropriate and due to a dearth of local resources. Extremely little support is available for deaf people who have been or are being abused. There are few appropriately trained counsellors equipped with the necessary skills in communicating with deaf people and even fewer trained in deaf awareness. A number of risk factors have been identified and are illustrated in this article. Three case studies are described to highlight the issues involved.     

Discursive discrimination against the 'deaf-mute'/'deaf ' and the importance of categorization in 20th century Sweden

This article sheds light on issues concerning discrimination in the history of deaf people in Sweden in the 20th century. With the help of a specific typology of concepts for analysing discrimination exercised through the use of language, it is shown how the categorization of the hearing impaired has changed over time and how, in this process of change, official discourses on 'deaf-muteness' or deafness has shifted from more to less discriminatory in certain respects and from making deaf people out as very different from the majority population to de-emphasizing differences. The overall social practice is described as moving from assimilation towards inclusion.     

Geographies in the American DeafWorld as institutional constructions of the deaf body in space: the sensescape model

Space is a site where culture and body meet. It is a physical text of cultural constructions of the body that articulate personal, social and material functions and arrangements. The American DeafWorld consists of spaces where deaf and hard of hearing people are found. The geographies in the DeafWorld are the sites where different institutions create and imprint their ideologies, practices and properties pertaining to their sensory notions of the deaf body onto brick-and-mortar spaces in the DeafWorld. Sensescape is proffered as a theoretical model to describe DeafWorld institutional geographies.     

Walter Geikie: the life, schooling and work of a deaf artist at the beginning of the nineteenth century

The life and works of Walter Geikie (1795-1837), a profoundly deaf Edinburgh artist elected to the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Drawing and Architecture, are investigated as a source of insight into the experiences of deaf people in early nineteenth-century Scotland. Accounts of Geikie's early education, his family life and contacts with the rest of Edinburgh's deaf community are discussed in light of their possible weight as evidence that sign was recognized and used as part of the schooling of deaf students at the time. The artist's life is presented as an instance of the experiences of a profoundly deaf person at a time when the expectations of society regarding the education and socialization of deaf people was in process of expansion.     

Technological socialities: The impact of information and communication technologies on belonging among deaf and hard-of-hearing people

This review article examines how different types of communication technologies, from the specialized medical to generic social devices, influence belonging and sociality among deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) people. The emphasis is on DHH adolescents and young adults who may be impacted differently across countries, given state-specific policies regarding the status of sign language and deaf education, and based on different availability, affordability, and accessibility of communication technologies. We introduce different perspectives on deafness, ranging from pathological to cultural, a heuristic on which we build to explore DHH socialities as complex and evolving. We then analytically review ethnographic research on how cochlear implants impact DHH people's belonging to the “deaf world” and/or the “hearing world,” and how they navigate between these worlds. Then we move on to technologies such as text messages and social media, which enable DHH people to extend their socialities beyond local communities. Belonging is a fluid phenomenon, and technologies which are in a constant process of innovation and development may influence it in complex ways. We argue that to explore questions of belonging, identity, and sociality among DHH people, and how they are shaped by technologies, (visual) ethnographic methods are particularly productive.     

Deaf and disabled? (Un)Employment of deaf people in Belgium: a comparison of eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century cohorts

In this article, the employment characteristics of pre-industrial and industrial cohorts of deaf men and women are compared with each other, as well as with a cohort of non-disabled siblings. The aim is to determine the extent to which the employment patterns of deaf persons lined up with those of non-disabled people and to see how nineteenth-century industrialization processes influenced their employment opportunities. This article challenges the widely held assumption that the nineteenth century constituted a definitive break by arguing that the professional lives of deaf people were not necessarily better before industrialization. Moreover, I demonstrate that the development of deaf schools in the course of the nineteenth century opened a new range of career opportunities for deaf individuals.     

Moral voices of politically engaged urban youth

The relationship between reflection and action is an enduring question for those interested in promoting moral development among young people. Educators struggle to find effective methods for helping youth reason carefully about moral problems and also to show moral commitment in their everyday lives. One place where reflection and action come together is in youth activism, where young people engage in social action campaigns to improve their schools and communities. What are the moral concerns that urban youth raise when given the opportunity? How do these concerns get translated into action? Drawing on original and secondary sources, this chapter discusses four social action campaigns organized by youth in the San Francisco Bay Area, in which youth combined critical moral judgments with social action. The chapter is not an empirical study, but instead an effort to bring attention to the moral and ethical perspectives that politically engaged youth raise. These social action projects suggest that for youth living in low-income neighborhoods with limited resources, the capacity for critical moral reflection about one's surroundings is an important dimension of healthy development. Helping youth assess and transform their local environments represents a promising direction for moral education and youth development.     

Screening Networks: shared agendas in feminist and disability movement challenges to antenatal screening and abortion

This paper identifies common ground in feminist and disability movement concerns with the social and ethical implications of antenatal screening and abortion. By examining the frameworks used by particular authors within each area, I argue that they both can and do have a shared agenda, which is focused on the social values that are embedded in antenatal screening and promote abortion as the obvious choice to the diagnosis of a congenital condition. It is important to develop some kind of shared agenda in order to construct theoretical and methodological approaches, which pay equal attention to pregnant women (disabled and non-disabled) and disabled people. To aid the development of such an agenda I draw on Actor Network Theory (ANT), which focuses on analysing the role of sociotechnical networks in securing particular social values and moral worlds. The issue for both disability studies and feminism is what kind of screening networks produce moral worlds that promote abortion, shape women's choices and express discrimination against disabled people?     

Empowerment, Identity and Participatory Research: using social action research to challenge isolation for deaf and hard of hearing people from minority ethnic communities

This paper considers the practice of empowerment within a social action approach, and the importance of an analysis of issues of identity, for an understanding of the experience of individuals and their communities. The discussion is grounded in the experience of conducting a research project on the 'needs of deaf and hard of hearing people from minority ethnic communities', living in the London Borough of Merton. The theme of 'isolation' is taken as a focus for the discussion. It was identified by respondents to be of central importance to an understanding of their experience. The Social Model of Disability and the concept of Deaf Culture are used to explore the complex set of relationships that characterise the day-to-day reality for deaf and hard of hearing people from minority ethnic communities, and recommendations are made to assist researchers and service providers in developing a more empowering practice.     

Moral education as intercultural moral education

In a diverse country such as Peru, moral education should reflect social, cultural, political and spiritual dilemmas of both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples and their communities. To promote understanding and respect amongst people from different sociocultural backgrounds, moral education should encourage a dialogue between indigenous values and mainstream hegemonic values. In this article, we argue for the need to conceptualise moral education as intercultural. Against a common view that portraits indigenous people as incommensurable, that is, as trapped in their own radically different moral perspective, our own research in Shipibo-Konibo and Asháninka communities show that indigenous people display a moral point of view when analysing cultural traditions and practices. This moral point of view appears intertwined with their cultural values and ethnic identities and allows intercultural dialogue. In this vein, we argue for the need to incorporate intercultural moral conflicts and dilemmas into moral education to promote understanding and respect for others.     

A Swedish Prevalence Study of Deaf People Using Sign Language: a prerequisite for Deaf studies

A widely used estimate claims that one per thousand individuals is deaf, but few recent studies exist on the actual prevalence. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of deaf people, defined as deaf individuals who use sign language as their main mode of communication, in the county of Scania, Sweden. To achieve high validity, data were collected from a large variety of sources including both public institutions and voluntary associations, working with deaf people. The study demonstrates a prevalence of 0.7 per thousand inhabitants, a figure considerably lower than the traditional estimate. One interpretation of this finding is that the prevalence of deafness is on the decrease. Another interpretation reflects the problem to define deafness. As prevalence figures vary with the definition used, one single estimate valid for the prevalence of deafness is not possible to make. We therefore question the traditional one-per-thousand estimate of deafness.