The portrayals and perceptions of deaf characters in adolescent literature

In this dissertation, consisting of this researcher's critical analysis of six adolescent books with deaf characters and a reader response survey, the researcher reports her findings to the following: Are deaf and hearing authors who include deaf characters currently presenting these characters as culturally Deaf or are they presenting the characters through a pathological perspective? How do deaf and hearing adult readers perceive deaf characters in adolescent literature? How do the participants' responses and perceptions of deaf characters relate to the content analysis check-off forms based upon Deaf Studies, Disability Studies and Queer Theory? What do these relations imply?; Conclusions. Are deaf characters being presented as culturally Deaf or as pathologically deaf and disabled?; The results from the Adolescent Literature Content Analysis instrument used in this study and this researcher's notes demonstrated that the majority of the hearing authors presented the cultural perspective model. The pathological perspective model was underrepresented in the books by the hearing authors; yet, the majority of deaf authors included the pathological perspective. The researcher offered three main reasons why these deaf authors included more pathological perspective statements while the hearing authors include more cultural perspective statements including: (1) The deaf authors have grown up deaf and perhaps experienced more scenarios similar to those presented from the pathological perspective model; (2) There are fewer deaf characters in the books written by deaf authors and more characters and more deaf character variety in the books written by the hearing authors. When there are fewer deaf characters interacting with other deaf characters, these characters tend to interact with more hearing characters who are less likely to be aware of the cultural perspective; and, (3) With decreased populations of culturally Deaf children born to culturally Deaf individuals, it seems consistent that it may be more difficult to obtain a book from a Deaf of Deaf author. Similarly, if we consider the Deaf person's first language is American Sign Language based on the cultural model, Deaf authors may be spending more time composing stories and poetry in American Sign Language and less time focusing upon their writing in English.; Do these readers favor deaf authors over hearing ones?; Participants were asked to compare two of six different adolescent literature books. Twenty-four participants from the three participant groups (deaf, familiar and unfamiliar) returned surveys. The Deaf participants along with the participants as a whole preferred the books written by the hearing authors. In general, the deaf participants were more critical of the hearing authors while the familiar participants, although as a group preferred the books by the hearing authors, were more critical of the hearing authors. Participants throughout all three groups mentioned their preference for a spectrum of deaf characters.; How do readers perceive deaf characters?; Themes that emerged from the Reader Response Surveys included the participants' perceptions of these characters as: the "normal" curious kid; the egocentric spoiled brat; the advocate; those dependent upon the majority culture; those isolated; and, those searching for their identities.