Cross-cultural Misinformation: What does special education say about Deaf people

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Abstract
Special education is involved in a large scale attempt to 'educate' regular classroom teachers in addition to teachers traditionally served by special education. This paper examines the information presented in special education text books to determine how issues surrounding deaf persons are presented. Chapters addressing the Deaf in 13 special education text books were reviewed. The content of each chapter was examined to determine if a pathological view (the ear as an organism that needs to be fixed) or a cultural view (the Deaf as functioning members of society, with a legitimate language, American Sign Language, and a fully founded social structure) was the underlying theme. The majority of the chapters focused on the perspective that correction and cure are more important than positive functioning and respect for language and culture. These chapters suggest that not only is there no input from the Deaf community, but there is a systematic avoidance to include Deaf viewpoints.

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