Deaf Education and Oralism

While it is common for deaf and hard of hearing children to be educated under methods that rely heavily on oralism and often reflect ideologies that reflect elements of audism, oralism can be harmful to these children’s social and emotional wellbeing, ability to acquire language, and educational achievements. This presentation examines the way receptions of deaf populations have historically had direct correlations to deaf success by drawing on deaf experiences such as Martha’s Vineyard communities in the eighteenth century to influences of Alexander Graham Bell and the more modern example of the Deaf President Now protests at Gallaudet University. Additionally, by evaluating research regarding how deaf children best learn and by recording first-hand accounts of deaf and hard of hearing people’s experiences with oralism, this project analyzes why it is important for deaf children to have full access to sign language and highlights why it is necessary that methods of educating deaf children make room for more than only spoken languages. This results in a transgenerational record of deaf experiences that communicates how oralism has evolved in its presentation over time to reveal how these issues are still relevant today and suggests alternative, more effective modes of teaching deaf individuals