Mathews, Elizabeth S.
(2012)
"No Sign Language if you want to get him talking": Power, Transgressions/Resistance and Discourses of d/Deafness in the Republic of Ireland.
In:
Anniversary Essays: Forty Years of Geography in Maynooth.
National University of Ireland Maynooth, pp. 227-252.
ISBN 9780992746605
Abstract
Over the last number of decades, recognition of the fact that Deaf people
comprise a Deaf Community which shares a common language, Sign
Language, with its own grammar and syntax (Stokoe, 1960), cultural
norms and values, and history (Groce, 1985; Bienvenu, 1989; Lane, 1989;
Sacks, 1989; van Cleve and Crouch, 1989; Lane et al., 1996; Mow, 2001;
Woll and Ladd, 2005) has highlighted the need for a socio-cultural
perspective on Deafness, breaking away from the traditional medical view
of hearing impairment. This rise of the socio-cultural model of Deafness,
sometimes known as ‘Big-D Deaf’ is signified by the capitalisation of the
word Deaf, indicating membership to a cultural and linguistic minority
group, as opposed to lowercase deaf which signifies an audiological
deficiency.1 Although those identifying with the socio-cultural model of
Deafness do not identify as disabled (Lane, 2002), the progress made in
establishing a socio-cultural model must be situated within a generalised
shift away from viewing disabilities as inherently personal obstacles
towards one which examines the role of the physical, social, economic, or
political environment in creating disability (Oliver, 1990). While this shift
has occurred within the social and care sciences (including Geography)
and Deaf Studies itself, with a transference from a medical model of
disability to various kinds of social models, the predominant mode of
research concerning d/Deaf people in medical and educational fields still
favours the medical model of deafness as a disabling condition best
corrected through audiological treatment and speech instruction (as
highlighted by research reported in journals such as Audiology,
International Journal of Audiology, the International Journal of Language
and Communication Disorders, and The Journal of Speech, Language
and Hearing Research). There is little room for the role of Sign Language
or Deaf identity in this medical model, which instead prioritises
acquisition of speech and integration with hearing society as the goal of
deaf education. While due consideration must be given to the
complexities of d/Deaf identity and the diffculties in implementing any
binary between deaf/Deaf or d/Deaf/hearing (Skelton and Valentine,
2003a) for the purpose of this paper, I will limit this discussion to the
‘two dominant constructions of d/Deafness: medical deafness and sociocultural
Deafness (Valentine and Skelton, 2007: 108).
| Item Type: |
Book Section
|
| Additional Information: |
First published in Population, Space and Place (2011), 17, 361-376. |
| Keywords: |
Sign Language; talking; Power; Transgressions/Resistance; Discourses; d/Deafness; Republic of Ireland; Anniversary Essays; Geography; Maynooth; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
5596 |
| Depositing User: |
IR Editor
|
| Date Deposited: |
05 Dec 2014 15:05 |
| Publisher: |
National University of Ireland Maynooth |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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