Cultures of disability and deafness: Rethinking links between the disability movement and deaf community

Autor/a: ROBINSON, Sally; ADAM, Robert
Año: 2003
Editorial: Australian Social Policy Conference, University of NSW, 2003
Tipo de código: Copyright
Soporte: Digital

Temas

Comunidad y cultura sorda

Detalles

The social model and social perspectives of disability are gaining increasing momentum within Australia. This identification of people as disabled by their environments rather than their impairment results in part in the identification of disabled people as a group marginalised and disenfranchised by the exclusions of societies and communities. Propelled by the social model, the disability movement has as one of its primary concerns the recognition of a disability culture, which is based in the shared experience of a disabled identity. Although the general community's perception of Deaf people is associated with disability, the Deaf Community views itself as a language group. Nonetheless, the Deaf Community is politically aligned with the disability community because of such a perspective, as well as disability-based legislation which potentially assures Deaf people of their human rights. It is argued in this paper that social perspectives of disability potentially bring the two groups into closer alliance, highlighted by the emergence of disability culture and its similarities and interactions with Deaf culture and its consequent focus on the development of a positive disabled identity. There are also a number of trends in the way in which both disability and deafness are viewed which have a significant negative impact on the ways in which disabled people and Deaf people experience the world. These include historically medicalised views of both disability and deafness, and the current research and policy development on bioethics and prevention of disability.