The Social and Epistemological Violence of Inclusive Education for Deaf Learners

Abstract


 
 
 This paper begins by describing several recent human rights complaints brought by Canadian parents of deaf children who have not been able to access an education in sign language in provinces where a deaf school has been closed. The paper outlines some ways in which so-called inclusive educational systems perpetuate social and epistemological violence by depriving deaf children of direct instruction in sign language and access to a community of signing deaf peers. Inclusive educational systems have disrupted intergenerational sign language transmission and resulted in deaf children’s loss of identity. The paper calls for sign language policies and sign language-medium educational practices to ensure the viability of deaf futures.
 
 

Sign language ideologies and deaf interpreters in Canada

“…Demographic survey data reflect that most DIs are Canadian-born and from a grandparent generation (Bickford et al, 2015) that attended deaf schools as sites of national sign language transmission and maintenance. Today, many deaf learners lack access to education in sign language, reflecting disrupted intergenerational transmission patterns and more limited sites of sign language transmission (Snoddon, 2020). This disparity is reflected in the smaller numbers of DIs who are from a younger, child-bearing generation (Bickford et al, 2015) and suggests that a precarious national sign language ecosystem currently exists in Canada.…”

“This Clock Is Oop” Development of Translanguaging Strategies and Language Attitude in a Deaf Bimodal Bilingual Student

“…Deaf education in the United States and around the world has a long history of encouraging students to conform to linguistic expectations of the hearing world through discouragement of signed language and use of spoken language (see Baynton 1996;Burch 2002;Snodden 2020). While the cultural value of sign languages has been more widely This paper describes the process of the author's work with a bimodal bilingual deaf student enrolled in a subseparate bilingual high school mainstream program for deaf and hard of hearing students.…”

“…Deaf education in the United States and around the world has a long history of encouraging students to conform to linguistic expectations of the hearing world through discouragement of signed language and use of spoken language (see Baynton 1996;Burch 2002;Snodden 2020). While the cultural value of sign languages has been more widely recognized (Leigh et al 2018), the fight for all deaf children to have access to full language and education is ongoing (Snodden 2020). Alongside the call for fully accessible schooling and language development for deaf children, translanguaging practices must be recognized as an integral part of the bimodal bilingual experience.…”

Modern philosophy of inclusive education of deaf students

“…As a result of this approach, the issue of social integration remains unresolved. A deaf student becomes not a 'participant' but a 'visitor' in the school community [5].…”