Cultures of disability and deafness: rethinking links between the disability movement and the deaf community

Although the general community\u27s perception of Deaf people is associated with disability, the Deaf community views itself as a language group. Nonetheless, the Deaf community is politically aligned with the disability community because of such a perspective, as well as disability-based legislation which potentially assures Deaf people of their human rights. In this paper Sally Robinson and (from the Deaf Society of NSW) Robert Adam argue that social perspectives of disability potentially bring the two groups into closer alliance, highlighted by the emergence of disability culture and its similarities and interactions with Deaf culture and its consequent focus on the development of a positive disabled identity