The Education of Deaf People in Brazil: An Analysis Over 20 Years (2002-2022) After the Publication of the Libras Law

Abstract

The education of deaf and hearing impaired people was sometimes marked by the phase of exaltation, sometimes by exclusion, which negatively impacted the entry of these people into the most diverse educational spaces. In view of this scenario, legislation was created so that the rights and human dignity of all were guaranteed. Thus, the objective is to analyze which changes Law No. 10.436/2002, popularly known as the Libras Law, provided in the education of deaf and hearing impaired people in 20 years (from 2002 to 2022), based on the statistical synopses of educational censos.Descriptive, exploratory and qualitative research is used as methodology. The analysis showed that, in these 20 years of the Libras Law, many advances have occurred, from the increase in the number of deaf and hearing impaired students in basic and higher education to the value of the Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) in the most diverse spaces of society and guarantees in relation to health. However, we are still far from an effective proportion of this public in Brazilian education, when analyzing the demographic census data.