Constructions of deafness and deaf education: Exploring normalcy and deviance

Ideas and definitions of deafness are complicated and deeply contested, including the constraints over what ought to be normal, especially for a child. This research examines what it means to be deaf and disabled under the guise of normalcy and deviance. Social control institutions, such as schools, provide deaf children with a unique opportunity to obtain a valuable education and to establish a foundation in linguistics; however, educational outcomes for deaf children are not on par with hearing children. To further complicate issues, the challenges in defining appropriate academic, linguistic, and cultural pedagogy for deaf children in deaf schools are contested by divergent ideologies of oralism and American Sign Language (ASL). Using a comparative approach and a grounded theory as methodological orientations, this research examines the larger issue of deafness in two different types of deaf education classrooms to uncover emergent ideologies, paradigms, identity formations, and everyday social constructions. Analytical themes include the diverse pedagogy of languages, types of classroom culture incorporated, and the implications of diverse teacher knowledge. The findings suggest that discussions of the contrasting ideologies of normalcy in deaf education may have important implications when examining the diverse ways that deafness and deaf students are constructed. Some possible strategies are presented to develop a positive construction of deafness and ways to discuss the diverse ideologies of deaf education through critical, yet collaborative inquiry. Larger critical justice issues related to deafness have important implications influencing the types of knowledge and identities produced not just for deaf students, but for a greater understanding of humankind and our connections to the world.