50 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
sociological study analyzed the intersection of ability and gender in the interviewees’
life stories and illuminates the role of language in maternal thinking: how women
who identify as culturally deaf discuss with their husbands how to communicate with
their children and employ a wide range of communication methods such as ASL,
Signing Exact English, and/or oral methods. The mothers actively made efforts to
“normalize” their experiences: The concept of disability was challenged, and when
the women were asked whether they preferred their children to be deaf or hearing,
they tended to emphasize a preference for “healthy” children with whom they could
establish a bond. Whereas their work as mothers was similar to the work of hearing
mothers, they also needed to negotiate their deaf identities in mainstream society.
They viewed themselves as members of a linguistic and cultural minority group who
were not intrinsically different from other people. They also did not want their
children to interpret for them. Political decisions on the language(s) they taught
their children and used at home were tied to relations to the deaf community and/
or the hearing world and helped create room for their families and themselves in
both worlds. They strived for their children to be accepted and for themselves to be
legitimate mothers in both worlds:The contradiction that existed in this aspect of maternal thought was present
for these women in a particular way. They had to teach their children the art
of going back and forth between these two worlds and to be proud of Deaf
culture as a part of their family and balance that within the context of a larger
hearing society. (narajian, 2006, p. 117)James and Woll (2004) illuminate the influence of educational contexts, language
use, social attitudes, and the family context on black deaf people’s identity devel-
opment and life experiences in the United Kingdom. They have found that “black
deaf” is not a unitary notion: Black deaf people create and move between com-
plex identity positions within and beyond the deaf community. Positive experiences
of communication in the home context lead to positive attitudes toward deafness.
Feelings of loneliness and exclusion, poor communication with family members
(in which the use of nonstandard varieties of English, creole English, or other lan-
guages is sometimes an influential factor), limited participation in the cultural envi-
ronment, the use of British Sign Language, and Deaf pride were all found to foster
identification with the deaf community. Informants who had good family relations
and whose families supported their educational and career trajectories also tended
to identify with the deaf community. Factors that fostered black community mem-
bership were experiences of racism within the deaf community and larger society,
positive family experiences, and black pride. Although educational trends moved
toward cultural pluralism in the 1970s and 1980s, informants were not usually able
to acquire information related to their own cultural backgrounds at school. Infor-
mation related to the deaf community and deaf culture was only available through
interactions with other deaf children; however, racism and stereotyping created a
need for information about black culture and black role models. Ambivalent and
varied feelings toward the deaf community were noticed, including both pride and
exclusion because of racism within the deaf community.