Ethnicity, ethics, and the deaf-world.
This article is concerned with ethical aspects of the relations between language minorities using signed languages (called the Deaf-World) and the larger societies that engulf them. The article aims to show that such minorities have the properties of ethnic groups, and that an unsuitable construction of the Deaf-World as a disability group has led to programs of the majority that discourage Deaf children from acquiring the language and culture of the Deaf-World and that aim to reduce the number of Deaf births-programs that are unethical from an ethnic group perspective. Four reasons not to construe the Deaf-World as a disability group are advanced: Deaf people themselves do not believe they have a disability; the disability construction brings with it needless medical and surgical risks for the Deaf child; it also endangers the future of the Deaf-World; finally, the disability construction brings bad solutions to real problems because it is predicated on a misunderstanding.
Lane
Harlan
H
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Lane@neu.edu
D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003638:Deafness / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D004989:Ethics; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups; D012813:Sign Language; D012945:Social Values