Session 8

Session 8: Deaf Organisations and Services

There are many negative aspects of deaf people’s lives through the long history of society misunderstanding. There are many lives which have been affected. Yet at the same time, the deaf community has existed and developed as a resource for deaf people and a place where the language and culture could grow. Nowadays, the community as a resource is seldom recognised. There are fewer community workers, fewer social workers with a community affiliation. There are fewer deaf people coming into the community through traditional routes from residential schools. There is more mainstreaming. There is at least the same extent of medical intervention although it is now promised as a cure for deafness (cochlear implants and genetic engineering).

Yet at the same time there has been a huge upsurge in the positive self-image of deaf people. More deaf adults than ever before are entering higher education, are taking evening classes are working with their wider communities as sign teachers, counsellors, assistants in school and so on. The value of deafness can be seen in the model which it has begun to offer to people at large.

The balance should be expressed in the status of sign language and the deaf community. But is it?