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 6:3
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Solitary
One Woman's Experience as the
Only Deaf Child in Her School
To feature contemporary autobiographies and biographies about living deaf
and hard of hearing people, the Press introduces a new series entitled Deaf
Lives edited by
Brenda Jo Brueggemann. Alone in
the Mainstream: A Deaf Woman Remembers Public School by Gina A. Oliva
inaugurates the Deaf Lives series. In this introductory volume,
Brueggemann, Professor of English at Ohio Sate University, Columbus, OH, notes
that, “Oliva has successfully blended autobiography and biography in creating an
energized and sensitive narrative that weaves her own experiences as a (then
‘hard of hearing’) young solitary (Oliva’s term for being the only deaf child in
the entire school) in public school alongside the stories of many other
solitaries, who were also ‘mainstreamed.’
She has gathered these stories as “data” in a biographical study she conducted
and called ‘The Solitary Mainstream Project.’”
Matching her findings from The Solitary Mainstream Project with current
research on deaf students in public schools, Oliva confirmed that hearing teachers
are ill-prepared to teach deaf pupils, they don’t know much about hearing loss,
and they frequently underestimate deaf children. Additionally, Oliva’s commentary
about ways to make the “solitary mainstreamed” lives of young deaf and hard of
hearing kids less solitary, more socially successful, more well-rounded, “makes
Alone in the Mainstream
valuable in at least two ways,” states Brueggemann. “First, because of its format, this text addresses
a wide audience and second, it serves as an ideal model for the Deaf Lives
series itself.”
Oliva asks, “So what is daily life really like for deaf or hard of hearing
children who grow up in a hearing neighborhood and attend the same schools as
everyone else? How do hearing adults and children in neighborhood schools, most
having never experienced life with a hearing loss, behave toward such a child?
What does their behavior suggest about their attitudes toward d/Deaf people?”
Read A
Glimpse at Everyday Life, and
order
Alone in the Mainstream at your exclusive subscriber discount of 20% off the regular price.
Bilingualism and
Identity in Deaf Communities, edited by Melanie Metzger, was recently
praised in APA Review of Books. The reviewer commends the sixth entry in the
Sociolinguistics in
Deaf Communities series by writing, “This volume and, indeed,
the entire series help further our understanding of deafness and of deaf
individuals, deaf culture, and deaf communities. Together, the articles inform
our perception of the deaf and signal a growing emphasis on deaf children as
bilinguals in keeping with the series’ themes. What is less obvious, although
equally important, is that the articles also further our understanding of all
individuals, cultures, and communities, whatever communication system is used.”
Read the full review and
order Bilingualism and Identity in Deaf Communities. Also, read an
excerpt from part one,
Name Signs and
Identity in New Zealand by Rachel Locker McKee and David McKee, a study of
how name signs reveal the self-perceptions of members of a Deaf community.
 The Second International Deaf Academics and Researchers Conference took place on
February 19-21, at the Kellogg Conference Hotel. Inspired by the first Deaf
Academics Conference held March 2002, in Austin, TX, a planning committee
co-chaired by Gallaudet faculty members Derek Braun and Caroline Solomon
organized a compelling series of presentations and panels to discuss both
current research and the roles of Deaf scholars in the academic world and in
their respective Deaf communities.
Sponsored by Gallaudet University Press Institute and the Gallaudet Research
Center, the conference featured two keynote speakers — Harry G. Lang, Professor,
Center for Research, Teaching, and Learning at the National Technical Institute
for the Deaf in Rochester, NY; and Helga Stevens, Director of the European Union
of the Deaf in Brussels, Belgium. Other presentations at the conference
traversed a broad spectrum of research and issues critical to Deaf researchers
and Deaf communities. Several panels offered stimulating discourse on diverse
subjects, ranging from how to
obtain research grants to assessing job search issues, creating effective
partnerships with interpreters, and conducting research on the auditory system.
The final presentations explored Deaf communities on a global scale and the
political participation of Deaf people. Read the entire overview of the
conference here.
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