This small scale, qualitative study invited deaf adults to reflect on their schooling and to
consider the ways in which placement decisions impacted on their educational opportunities,
achievement and identity. It aimed to document the experiences of deaf adults who had
attended special schools for deaf children and to elicit their ...
This small scale, qualitative study invited deaf adults to reflect on their schooling and to
consider the ways in which placement decisions impacted on their educational opportunities,
achievement and identity. It aimed to document the experiences of deaf adults who had
attended special schools for deaf children and to elicit their thoughts on the current state of
education for deaf children and their hopes for the future. The findings, based on the
participants’ narratives, alluded to current debates about the growing numbers of young deaf
children in mainstream schools and the impact of this trend on the changing nature of Deaf
culture. They also explored a tension around the balancing of the need for deaf children to
access Deaf culture and sign language, whilst maintaining the positive achievements of
inclusive practice including: raised expectations, family and community belonging and high
academic achievement. This paper advances a possible solution to this tension in the form of
deaf-centric community hubs.