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Over the last number of decades, recognition of the fact that Deaf people
comprise a Deaf Community which shares a common language, Sign
Language, with its own grammar and syntax (Stokoe, 1960), cultural
norms and values, and history (Groce, 1985; Bienvenu, 1989; Lane, 1989;
Sacks, 1989; van Cleve and Crouch, 1989; Lane et al., 1996; Mow, 2001;
Woll and Ladd, 2005) has highlighted the need for a socio-cultural
perspective on Deafness, breaking away from the traditional medical view
of hearing impairment. This rise of the socio-cultural model of Deafness,
sometimes known as ‘Big-D Deaf’ is signified by the capitalisation of the
word Deaf, indicating membership to a cultural and linguistic minority
group, as opposed to lowercase deaf which signifies an audiological
deficiency.1 Although those identifying with the socio-cultural model of
Deafness do not identify as disabled (Lane, 2002), the progress made in
establishing a socio-cultural model must be situated within a generalised
shif...
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