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The situation of deaf peopleIt may be that we disagree with Freire but if we can for the moment set that aside and try to work out the implications of what he says. His ideas suggest that hearing people and deaf people are locked together in a relationship which is oppressive. Both contribute to the situation. The hearing oppress and the deaf behave as oppressed. The realisation of the nature of deaf people's communication and the attempts to learn it are not based in any real challenge to the social order, but rather are just further aids to the maintenance of the order. We talk about access. This usually means the access to the current way of life of hearing people. Deaf people want more access. It has become the slogan of many campaigns; but what is the access towards? If it is an attempt to give deaf people access to the facilities and choices of hearing people, then it is not a liberating access. It is an attempt to make deaf people just the same as hearing people. Freire says to ....to be is to be like and to be like is to be like the oppressor.... We talk about overcoming the handicap, of achieving the lifestyle of hearing people. The interpreter, just as much as the teacher, is part of this access system. Neither yet, envisages any real change in the nature of the oppression. Put simply and in an extreme form, the agents of oppression simply switch to being agents of access. Deaf people become no less dependent. Bilingual methodology which we will begin to examine in the next sessions of the course cannot work for deaf people in their language situation unless the negative and oppressive relationship is altered. As Freire says, this is difficult for the oppressor to see. The motive force for change has to come from deaf people and it has to be radical. As such it is also likely to be painful for hearing people. |
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