Signs of hope
Subtitle: deafhearing family life
By: by Donna West
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Newcastle upon Tyne
Language: eng
Number of pages: 247
ISBN-13: 9781443849630
Subjects: Deaf; Family relationships; Deafness; Social aspects; Psychology; Communication; Family Relations; Social Perception
Description: This title is the winner of the 2013 Outstanding Qualitative Book Award by the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. Signs of Hope tells the story of a narrative inquiry with three deafhearing families. For many of us, deafness represents loss and silence. For others, being deaf is a genetic quirk; an opportunity for learning, spiritual adventure and reward. For yet others, it is the most natural thing in the world; a connection to a genealogical layer of signing ancestors and the continuation of a culture. Amid the noise of mainstream, medical and educational discourses of deafness, here are family voices demanding to be heard - whether spoken or signed - that challenge audiological and surgical intervention, that call for scrutiny and critique of 'inclusive' deaf-related pedagogical practices, that rail against marginalisation of members of minority cultures. Over four years, Donna West has recorded the stories of three families who wish to counter and resist what they see as damaging misconceptions and discriminatory constructions of deafness and deafhearing family life. Here, spaces are created that respect and acknowledge human beings - adults, children, deaf, hearing - as storytellers. The poetic and performative narratives at the heart of this book reveal not only the ways in which hurtful definitions of, and discrimination towards, deaf people and signing deafhearing families is destabilised, but also the ways in which celebration of deaf culture and sign language are affirming and vital for healthy family life.
Notes: Originally published: 2012.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: Deafhearing family life: (Not) beginning at the beginning --; title: Stumbling at the first hurdle --; title: Deaf, deaf, DEAF? --; title: muddle of textual representation --; title: Troubling the binary --; title: Back to where I started? -- -- ch. One; title: How Did I Get Here? --; title: (Not) the silent author --; title: One person's invitation ... --; title: Autoethnography: A slippery customer --; title: Self and culture (auto and ethnography) --; title: Private and public --; title: So when did you become hearing? An autoethnographic sketch Is it autoethnography? -- -- Intertext I; title: Early Deaf Life --; title: What value deaf lives? --; title: Early deaf life -- -- ch. Two; title: Story of the Stories --; title: narrative epistemology --; title: Why narrative? --; title: reflexive consciousness --; title: Deaf/deafhearing story and resistance --; title: What's the story of your family? --; title: families --; title: Three families and me: A disclaimer of sorts --; title: Ethical mindfulness: a story Ethical endnotes --; title: Informed consent: An oxymoron? --; title: Space interrupted --; title: Entextualisation --; title: Bella -- -- Intertext II; title: Philosophy, Language, Thought and the Deaf --; title: Educating deaf people -- -- ch. Three; title: Story of the Writing --; title: story of the writing --; title: Me writing? --; title: Writing back --; title: Who writes? --; title: For whom is the writing being done? --; title: Poetics of experience --; title: For the (deaf) reader --; title: Words and pictures -- -- Intertext III; title: Evolutionism and Education --; title: Pathology, therapy and violence -- -- ch. Four; title: Deafhearing Family Life --; title: Brigit and Bella --; title: Beginnings --; title: Georgina, Toni and Thomas --; title: Beginnings --; title: Dora, Luke, Harper and Maisie (Part II) --; title: Beginnings -- -- Intertext IV; title: Eugenics, Technology and Management --; title: Technology, bureaucracy and management --; title: Cochlear implants -- -- ch. Five; title: Reflections --; title: Easier done than said --; title: Storying stories --; title: Travelling with the map --; title: Deaf History line --; title: Deafinitions line --; title: Bella's Venn Diagram --; title: Resistance line --; title: Postdeafness? --; title: What We Really Want to Say -- -- Intertext V; title: Biomedical Agenda -- -- ch. Six; title: Signs of Hope --; title: hero's journey --; title: Re-visions --; title: Becoming Hearing --; title: On narrative and the v̀-word' --; title: Dear World ... --; title: Signs of hope --; title: Epilogue --; title: Strong together.