Damned for their difference : the cultural construction of deaf people as "disabled" : a sociological history

Until the recent recognition of Deaf culture and the legitimacy of signed languages, majority societies around the world have classified Deaf people as “disabled,” a term that separates all persons so designated from the mainstream in a disparaging way. Damned for Their Difference offers a well-founded explanation of how this discrimination came to be through a discursive exploration of the cultural, social, and historical contexts of these attitudes and behavior toward deaf people, especially in Great Britain. Authors Jan Branson and Don Miller examine the orientation toward and treatment of deaf people as it developed from the 17th century through the 20th century. Their wide-ranging study explores the varied constructions of the definition of “disabled,” a term whose meaning hinges upon constant negotiation between parties, ensuring that no finite meaning is ever established. Damned for Their Difference provides a sociological understanding of disabling practices in a way that has never been seen before. Preface Acknowledgments Part One. The Cultural Construction of “the Disabled”: A Historical Overview Introduction 1: The Cosmological Tyranny of Science: From the New Philosophy to Eugenics 2: The Domestication of Difference: The Classification, Segregation, and Institutionalization of Unreason Part Two. The Cultural Construction of Deaf People as “Disabled”: A Sociological History of Discrimination Introduction 3: The New Philosophy, Sign Language, and the Search for the Perfect Language in the Seventeenth Century 4: The Formalization of Deaf Education and the Cultural Construction of “the Deaf” and “Deafness” in the Eighteenth Century 5: The “Great Confinement” of Deaf People through Education in the Nineteenth Century 6: The Alienation and Individuation of Deaf People: Eugenics and Pure Oralism in the Late-Nineteenth Century 7: Cages of Reason—Bureaucratization and the Education of Deaf People in the Twentieth Century: Teacher Training, Therapy, and Technology 8: The Denial of Deafness in the Late-Twentieth Century: The Surgical Violence of Medicine and the Symbolic Violence of Mainstreaming 9: Ethno-Nationalism and Linguistic Imperialism: The State and the Limits of Change in the Battles for Human Rights for Deaf People Appendix: The 1881 Survey of Methods Used in British Schools for the Deaf Bibliography Index

Until the recent recognition of Deaf culture and the legitimacy of signed languages, majority societies around the world have classified Deaf people as "disabled, " a term that separates all persons so designated from the mainstream in a disparaging way. Damned for Their Difference offers a well-founded explanation of how this discrimination came to be through a discursive exploration of the cultural, social, and historical contexts of these attitudes and behavior toward deaf people, especially in Great Britain.Authors Jan Branson and Don Miller examine the orientation toward and treatment of deaf people as it developed from the seventeenth century through the twentieth century. Their wide-ranging study explores the varied constructions of the definition of "disabled, " a term whose meaning hinges upon constant negotiation between parties, ensuring that no finite meaning is ever established. Damned for Their Difference provides a sociological understanding of disabling practices in a way that has never been seen before.Jan Branson is Director of the National Institute for Deaf Studies and Sign Language Research at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.Don Miller is Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Despite the recent recognition of Deaf culture and the legitimacy of signed languages, majority societies around the world continue to classify Deaf people as "disabled," a term that separates all persons so designated from the mainstream in a disparaging way. This book offers a well-founded explanation of how this discrimination came to be, through a discursive exploration of the cultural, social, and historical contexts of these attitudes and behavior toward deaf people, especially in Great Britain. The authors examine the orientation toward and treatment of deaf people as it developed from the 17th century through the 20th century. Their wide-ranging study explores the varied constructions of the definition of "disabled," a term whose meaning hinges upon constant negotiation between parties, ensuring that no finite meaning is ever established Annotation Damned for Their Difference offers a well-founded explanation of how Deaf people became classified disparagingly worldwide as "disabled," through a discursive exploration of the cultural, social, and historical contexts of these attitudes and behavior toward deaf people, especially in Great Britain. Authors Jan Branson and Don Miller examine the orientation toward and treatment of deaf people as it developed from the seventeenth century through the twentieth century. Their wide-ranging study explores the varied constructions of the definition of "disabled," a term whose meaning hinges upon constant negotiation between parties, ensuring that no finite meaning is ever established. Damned for Their Difference provides a sociological understanding of disabling practices in a way that has never been seen before Publisher Fact Sheet A sociological history of how deaf people came to be classified as disabled, from the 17th century through the 1990s Represents a sociological history of how deaf people came to be classified as disabled, from the 17th century through the 1990s.