Paper details

This presentation invites a dialogue between two allied areas of inquiry: Deaf Studies and Universal Design for Learning. These fields have much to gain from a long and sustained discourse.  Deaf Studies and Deaf education stand to benefit enormously from the advances in technologies and pedagogies arising from UDL practitioners.  Similarly, the theoretical framework of UDL may more consistently articulate its revolutionary contribution by incorporating insights from Deaf Studies—namely, the notion of “Deaf-gain” which reframes the nature of human difference from abnormality to a new normal of biocultural diversity. 

Deaf-gain is a counter construction to the traditional notion of “hearing loss” and “hearing impairment.” Deaf-gain refers to the cultural, cognitive and creative contributions that arise from deaf ways of being in the world (Bauman and Murray, 2009, 2010).  Within a Deaf-Gain frame, notions of ‘access’ and ‘accommodation’ are admirable and much needed to ensure more equal educational opportunities for everyone; however, they may not always go far enough to redefine the very construction of normalcy and therefore may leave fundamental pedagogical assumptions unchallenged. 

A case in point within bilingual deaf education is that all individuals, regardless of hearing status could benefit from the visual, spatial and kinetic modality of signed languages.  A brief review of relevant research on the gains of visual and gestural learning will be presented to emphasize the often overlooked role that the hand and/or the eye play in cognitive activities.

To illustrate this point in practice within tertiary education, brief videos will be shown that demonstrate the pedagogical benefits of academic discourse in a signed language. Insights will also be presented from the Gallaudet Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Initiative (GSTLI) which studies the practices of some of the finest teachers at Gallaudet University who pay particularly close attention to the embodied experiences of students within the classroom. 

A Deaf-gain approach to UDL, then, reframes disabilities as a part the incredible diversity of ways of knowing, which is actually the norm rather than an imaginary statistical body of people.  As UDL asks us to consider the role of the body, of perception and of the ethic of full inclusion in education, UDL pedagogy is about more than access and accommodation for people with disabilities; it could be about making education a more humane and hospitable process for everyone.