Contextualizing What It Means To Be Deaf: Foundations, Education and Activism

Abstract

What does it mean to be culturally Deaf? Most Deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States consider themselves part of a rich culture and history that was built on the back of Deaf residential schools in the nineteenth century. Throughout time, Deaf people in the United States have had their cultural threatened and have fought, and still fight, for representation. Their struggles and activism throughout time is part of what it means to be Deaf, and the context in which they struggled is part of their story.