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Deaf : Deaf And Deaf

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Bauman and Murray (2010) defines Deaf Studies as “interdisciplinary approaches to the exploration of Deaf individuals, communities, and cultures as they have evolved within a larger context of power and ideology” (p. 210). In other words, Deaf Studies refer to a specific academic field that studies deaf individuals and their unique communities and culture and may include constructs from anthropology, linguistics, bilingual education, disability, audiology, etc. Within the context of Deaf Studies, deaf individuals are no longer defined solely by their lack of hearing, but by their cultural, linguistic, and sensorial ways of being in the world (Bauman & Murray, 2010). That is why we hear people educated with Deaf Studies saying ASL kids to refer to deaf kids who use American Sign Language (ASL) system as their mode of communication or see them writing “Deaf” instead of “deaf” to give reference to the universally-recognized culture of people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The Deaf Studies in the 20th century focused on the studies of sign languages and of Deaf culture (Bauman & Murray, 2010). It was during the late part of the 20th century when sign languages and their practical use for communication of deaf students were formally studied. Many systems were explored, but the study of American Sign Language (ASL) became popular. A powerful argument why formal studies of sign language existed was to give Deaf students access to various modes of communication. Later, the study

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