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Session 1: Introduction
History is not fixed. There are factual details which we can use and
there is always the possibility to use dates, but most of the time we are dealing with
people’s views or recollections or analysis. History
is re-written constantly. So the history and
reality of deafness may not be the same things. But
it is just as reasonable to have deaf views as it is to have hearing views. Deaf people can begin to record their own history. This is starting to happen. This course is about the way in which hearing
people have approached deafness and the arguments and defences which deaf are offering. Although these are rather different views, deaf
and hearing people have to work together and this difficulty needs to be discussed
frankly. In sessions 2 and 3, some of the
current views of deafness which have been promoted through research and provision which
medical in origin, are discussed. The need
to prevent and cure deafness leads many practitioners to assume that deaf people would
prefer a state of hearingness to their lack of hearing.
If society is not prepared to change, clearly, the hard facts are that deaf
people suffer from their difference to hearing people.
But deaf views and deaf pride which are becoming more prominent argue that
deaf people are more like linguistic minorities. The
second part of the course describes the deaf community as we know it and tries to bring
out the deaf view. In the final stages we try to reconcile these views and indicate how organisations with deaf and hearing people might be able to cope. Read the rest of Session 1 text ....
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