The Legacy of Eugenics: The Struggle for Self-Determination and Its Impact on the Lives of Deaf People and the Sign Language Community in Finland
Temas
Detalles
Eugenics is an ideology that, in the name of normalization and the “common good”, seeks to “improve” the genetic quality of humanity by eliminating traits or groups of people regarded as undesirable. The history of and contemporary lived experiences of deaf people and the sign language community have been examined primarily through the lens of oralism or other forms of oppression, while the impact of an eugenics ideology has received relatively limited scholarly attention. Therefore, this study offers just such a perspective by exploring the effects of eugenics on the self-determination of deaf people and the sign language community in Finland across three distinct time periods: 1896–1930, 1955–1970, and 2016 to the present day. Combining historical and qualitative analyses with a multimethod approach, this research unveils new dimensions for understanding the relationship between eugenics and deaf people. In the first sub-study, I analyzed deaf–deaf marriages from the late nineteenth century until 1930 and the community’s resistance to laws restricting deaf–deaf marriage. My findings revealed that, with the emergence of the sign language community in the 1850s, marriages between deaf individuals were considered normal, if not desirable. A proposed marriage law sought to restrict such marriages, provoking robust opposition from the sign language community. Active discussions opposing the proposed marriage act in Finnish sign language community newspapers began circulating in 1927, offering arguments based on the right to happiness and social acceptance, reflecting the community’s strategies of resistance. The Marriage Act came into force in 1929 establishing restrictions on marriages between congenital deaf individuals. In the second sub-study, I examined deaf people’s perceptions of the truth and reconciliation process between the community and the Finnish government —a first-of-its-kind initiative globally. Using data from the “Signed Memories” research project (2020–2021) and launched by the Finnish Government, this study investigated injustices against deaf individuals and signers in Finland from the early 1900s to the present day. The project’s primary aim was to formulate recommendations for the implementation of a reconciliation process between the Finnish government and the sign language community. Data were re-analyzed using content analysis, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community participation. The Analysis indicated that we can talk about intergenerationally internalized oppression in the community. This internalized oppression led to difficulty in dismantling the victim role, posing a risk to the success of the truth and reconciliation process. In the third sub-study, I investigated abortion or/and sterilization applications from deaf women submitted to the Medical Board of Health of Finland between 1955 and 1970 using grounded theory and employing a hermeneutic approach. I found that decisions made by the Medical Board of Health were often based on hereditary “deaf-muteness” or hereditary “mental retardation”. Researching the application forms revealed that the self-determination of deaf women in this process was severely limited or entirely absent. This summary of my dissertation research demonstrates that eugenics has significantly influenced deaf people and the sign language community in Finland across different eras. That ideology has left lasting imprints not only on the sign language community’s struggle with self-determination, but also on both societal structures and attitudes. The methodological framework of Deaf Studies enabled an examination of the community’s—especially deaf people’s—lived experiences with oppressive structures from its own perspective, underscoring the centrality of restrictions on self-determination. Deaf people and the community have both resisted and adapted to eugenics, and the effects remain visible in the social status and identity of deaf people, manifesting as internalized oppression. Understanding the history of eugenics is crucial to assessing its impact on the truth and reconciliation process and for shaping deaf people’s and the community’s future rights and identity. This research underscores the persistent and pervasive influence of eugenics in both societal structures and individual attitudes. By tracing these effects across different historical periods, I reveal how eugenics ideologies have shaped not only external policies, but also internalized experiences within the deaf community. The findings offer a critical framework for promoting justice and for re-evaluating the self-determination of deaf individuals and the sign language community. This re-evaluation requires full recognition of the historical and ongoing impacts of eugenics, and a societal commitment to confronting this legacy in order to foster meaningful reconciliation and the realization of future rights.