Chapter 5: Decision-Making in the Era of Postmodern Audism: Examining the Colonizing Normate

Who decide(d)s whether the identity of a Deaf¹ person is a disability or a cultural identity? Who decide(d)s that spoken English is inherently superior to signed languages? Who decide(d)s what Deaf bodies are normative within the Deaf communities? Historically, much of the research and theorizing upon Deaf bodies has occurred through the etic perspectives of White, hearing individuals whereas emic perspectives by and for Deaf individuals have been largely missing from the literature (Cue et al., 2019; Lawyer, 2018; Wright, 2020). In large part, this can be attributed to the pervasive presence of audism in which Deaf people have for centuries been regarded as inferior, in want of rehabilitation, linguistically deprived, and colonized by the ideals of oralism and ableism (Ladd, 2003; Lane, 1999). The ability of Deaf individuals to obtain doctoral degrees in the United States has historically been a challenge reserved only for those who have the most privilege, which is tempered by proximity to normative practices, who then go on to succeed (Garberoglio et al., 2019). In other words, only those who were able to successfully navigate the hearing world with an ability to speak, an ability to master the English language, particularly that of the academic register, while presenting as White and relatively abled, have been among the first to receive doctoral degrees and thereby, allowed into academic discourse. Although remarkable, those precious few are simply not enough to amass a robust body of research that shifts the status quo of Deaf Studies, Deaf Education, and literacy away from the body of decades of etic perspectives. However, in the last decade, we have seen the number of Deaf scholars increase significantly, allowing for emic perspectives to challenge the status quo. New, emic perspectives give organic accounts of experiential phenomena, and shift meaning-making through the diversity of Deaf bodies. This shift thereby allows Deaf communities to articulate our own multiple epistemologies, interpret our own being-in-the-world, challenge the dominance of ableism, colonialism, and audism, while carrying the torch of our predecessors who have opened the doors into academia.