The current policy of educating d/Deaf and h/Hard of hearing (DHH) students in a mainstream setting, rather than in the segregated environments of deaf schools, has been portrayed as a positive step forward in creating greater equality for DHH students. In Language, Power, and Resistance, Elizabeth S. Mathews explores this claim through qualitative research with DHH children in the Republic of Ireland, their families, their teachers, and their experiences of the education system.
While sensitive to the historical context of deaf education, Mathews focuses on the contemporary education system and the ways in which the mainstreaming agenda fits into larger discussions about the classification, treatment, and normalization of DHH children.
The research upon which this book is based examined the implications that mainstreaming has for the tensions between the hegemonic medical model of deafness and the social model of Deafness. This volume explores how different types of power are used in the deaf education system to establish, maintain, and also resist medical views of deafness. Mathews frames this discussion as one of power relations across parents, children, and professionals working within the system. She looks at how various forms of power are used to influence decisions, to resist decisions, and to shape the structure and delivery of deaf education. The author’s findings are a significant contribution to the debates on inclusive education for DHH students and will resonate in myriad social and geographic contexts.
About the Author:
Elizabeth Mathews is an assistant professor with the School of Inclusive and Special Education at DCU St. Patrick’s Campus, where she specialises in the area of deaf education. She completed her MA in Deaf Education at Gallaudet University, Washington DC (2005) and her PhD with Maynooth University (2011). Previously, she was the coordinator of the Deaf Education Centre in Cabra, Dublin, sat on the Board of Management of Holy Family School for the Deaf in Cabra and is currently the co-chair of the Education Partnership Group. She is the project lead for the Irish Sign Language STEM Glossary Project along with a number of other research projects. She has also designed and delivered a pathway into primary teaching for Deaf ISL-users. Her recent research publications include work on power in the deaf education system, literacy and deafness, socio-emotional development of deaf children, life skills development in vulnerable deaf adults, and teacher self-efficacy.
Full DCU Author Profile HERE.
