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Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents
University of Manchester, June 14th 1999
The main mission of EENET is to facilitate conversation internationally on inclusive education. EENET is particularly committed to supporting enabling initiatives in the income-poor countries of the South where many children do not go to school for reasons of poverty, disability, ethnicity, gender and racial identity. It is recognised that education is much broader than schooling and that families and communities have an important role to play in the education of their children. Indigenous and traditional forms of education should be respected as appropriate educational provision, which complement formal schooling, and/or replace formal education where children are excluded.
This seminar was organised by EENET to help provide greater clarity about the key issues in the education of Deaf children in the South and to enable practitioners to share their experiences. There were 24 participants from 10 different countries and with experience from many other countries. There was unfortunately only one Deaf participant, although several others were invited. Almost half of the participants were teachers of Deaf children from the South, currently studying for Masters degrees in Manchester and Birmingham. There were several participants who were invited because they weren’t specialists in Deaf education, but have been involved in Deaf issues in the general context of education and development. This enabled an exchange of ideas and interpretations which rarely takes place.
Controversy and confusion over communication methods and educational context have often constituted a barrier to progress. Vast resources are invested in building schools for Deaf children, in developing audiology services and in training hearing teachers of Deaf children by Northern donors. Yet the overwhelming majority of Deaf children in most countries in the South are not in school. Those that attend schools for Deaf children often receive an inappropriate education which alienates them from their families and communities. Individual Deaf children, who attend their local school, are likely to feel isolated and frustrated unless they are enabled to develop appropriate communication skills. The inadequacy of educational provision for Deaf children is not confined to the South, however. Deaf ex-pupils are very critical of the education system in many Northern countries. The key issue in the South is the very large number of children who have no access to any form of education and the financial, cultural and logistical difficulties in addressing their exclusion.
The promotion of Deaf Culture, Community and Language and the recognition of Deaf people as a linguistic minority are issues which concern organisations of Deaf people in the North. In the income-poor countries of the South, where most of the population lives in rural areas, difficulties with communication and transport mean that Deaf people only tend to organise themselves in urban areas. Although there is an increasingly active Deaf movement in the South, the reality for many Deaf children is that they grow up in a small village where they may only rarely meet another Deaf person.
It is EENET’s mission to support practitioners in critically reflecting upon, and documenting, their work, and to disseminate it to those who have limited access to information and material resources. It is important to consider the meaning of inclusion and inclusive education in the particular cultural context and not to import solutions from the North. The experience of the inclusion movement and the Deaf Rights movement can help to inform practitioners as they develop more inclusive practices with and for Deaf people in the South, but it should not dominate their thinking. The meaning of inclusion for Deaf people in the family, the community, the school and at the policy level should be considered as a whole. Education does not take place in a social vacuum.
Deafness : Inclusion and Deafness Report Contents
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22/10/1999