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Deaf Students, Their Interpreters and Teachers
Share Experiences
of Mainstreaming in New Study
In
her new study,
Deaf Education
in America: Voices of Children from Inclusion Settings, author Janet Cerney
asserts that, “Since the communicative needs of deaf students are unlike those
of other groups of students with disabilities, their plight cannot simply be an
extension of the overall movement toward integration of students with
disabilities. Instead, their fundamental human right to language must be
examined, studied, and planned for in their daily lived experiences in school.
In considering the quality of communication and relationship building in the
learning environments for deaf students, it is useful to gain an understanding
of the nature of the real-life communicative relationships of deaf students in
inclusive settings. This information can be gleaned only through the
perspectives of deaf students exposed to inclusive learning environments and the
professionals who give them access to the voices beyond them.”.
To this end, the data for her text comes from interviews with “10 deaf students, 5 deaf adults, 10 educational interpreters, 4 regular education teachers, and 2 deaf education teachers involved in the integrated experience of deaf students. Interviewing seemed particularly important for the population of deaf students in that it allowed them to communicate through their native language, American Sign Language (ASL), while removing the possible barrier of not understanding written English surveys or forms. This method also allowed a clearer understanding of the perspectives of these individuals while offering an opportunity to explore the themes embedded within their stories.”
Read what the deaf students have to say in chapter seven, Voices of Deaf Children, and order Deaf Education in America today.
Through Deaf Eyes
Through
Deaf Eyes: A Photographic History of an American Community continues to
garner warm reviews, most recently from Wisconsin Bookwatch, the library
newsletter from The Midwest Book Review: “The combined effort of Douglas
C. Baynton, Jack R. Gannon, and Jean Lindquist Bergey, ‘Through Deaf Eyes: A
Photographic History of an American Community’ is the companion volume to an
acclaimed PBS television documentary based on a landmark photographic exhibition
at the Smithsonian Institution in 2001 celebrating almost 200 years of United
States Deaf History. The deaf have been a cultural and linguistic minority in
America almost from its inception. The more than 200 photographs, the many
quotes, and compelling stories compiled in ‘Through Deaf Eyes’ provides the
reader with informed and informative insights into a fascinating and specialized
aspect of American history with respect to deaf people in school settings, the
workplace, during wartime, the development and impact of American Sign Language,
and more. ‘Through Deaf Eyes’ is a superb and appreciated contribution to
personal, academic, and community American history reference collections and
supplemental reading lists.” View the
table of contents, and read both the
preface and
chapter one online. Order Through Deaf Eyes
here.
Women and Deafness
CHOICE
magazine recommends
Women and
Deafness: Double Visions, the cross-disciplinary collection edited by Brenda
Jo Brueggemann and Susan Burch:
“Although it seems odd to use vision or ‘double visions’ in a book title about
women and D/deafness, the authors assert that ‘doubling our visions can mean
many different ways of looking.’ The essays here explore contributor Sharon
Barnartt’s notion, ‘With regard to educational attainment and occupational
status, deafness is not the master status. Rather, gender is,’ with depth and
complexity while putting D/deaf women at the center. The familiar refrain of sex
role stereotyping of D/deaf women is found in more than one of the essays,
ranging from education designed to train homemakers to D/deaf beauty pageants.
Particularly noteworthy is ‘The Aesthetics of Linguistic Envy: Deafness and
Muteness in Children of a Lesser God and The Piano’ by Jennifer
Nelson, because of students’ puzzled and confused responses to these films as
erotic, violent, and mysterious. Although some of the more theoretical essays
may require an instructor’s assistance, the 21 essays and editors’ introductions
in the books three sections—‘In and Out of the Community’ (identity issues),
‘(Women’s) Authority and Shaping Deafness’ (women’s agency), ‘Reading Deaf
Women’ (culture and expression)—make for a richly accessible book for
undergraduate students. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division
undergraduates and above.” Read more about this collection in a chapter from
part three, and
order Women and Deafness.