A contemporary and vibrant Deaf culture is found within Deaf communities, including Deaf Persons of Color and those who are DeafDisabled and DeafBlind. Taking a more people-centered view, the second edition of Deaf Culture: Exploring Deaf Communities in the United States critically examines how Deaf culture fits into education, psychology, cultural studies, technology, and the arts. With the acknowledgment of signed languages all over the world as bona fide languages, the perception of Deaf people has evolved into the recognition and acceptance of a vibrant Deaf culture centered around the use of signed languages and the communities of Deaf peoples. Written by Deaf and hearing authors with extensive teaching experience and immersion in Deaf cultures and signed languages, Deaf Culture fills a niche as an introductory textbook that is more inclusive, accessible, and straightforward for those beginning their studies of the Deaf-World. New to the Second Edition * A new co-author, Topher Gonzalez Avila, MA * Two new chapters! o Chapter 7 "Deaf Communities within the Deaf Community" highlights the complex variations within this community o Chapter 10 "Deaf People and the Legal System: Education, Employment, and Criminal Justice" underscores linguistic and access rights * The remaining chapters have been significantly updated to reflect current trends and new information, such as: o Advances in technology created by Deaf people that influence and enhance their lives within various national and international societies o Greater emphasis on different perspectives within Deaf culture o Information about legal issues and recent political action by Deaf people o New information on how Deaf people are making breakthroughs in the entertainment industry o Addition of new vignettes, examples, pictures, and perspectives to enhance content interest for readers and facilitate instructor teaching. o Introduction of theories explained in a practical and reader-friendly manner to ensure understanding o An updated introduction to potential opportunities for professional and informal involvement in ASL/Deaf culture with children, youth, and adults Key Features * Strong focus on including different communities within Deaf cultures * Thought-provoking questions, illustrative vignettes, and examples * Theories introduced and explained in a practical and reader-friendly manner * PluralPlus companion website with a test bank and digital slides/presentations for instructors

- Coverage of deaf people and cognition, neuroscience, bimodal/bilingualism, and education technology - Strong multicultural focus - Case studies from authors' clinical and educational practices - Three deaf and one hearing author-a deaf/hearing bilingual team

- Coverage of deaf people and cognition, neuroscience, bimodal/bilingualism, and education technology - Strong multicultural focus - Case studies from authors' clinical and educational practices - Three deaf and one hearing author-a deaf/hearing bilingual team

Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals develop their identities within environments that convey and reinforce preconceived assumptions of disability and of deafness, thereby encouraging particular ways of accommodating individuals' hearing status. These assumptions ultimately influence the evolution of their identities and in turn their psychological well-being. This notion is particularly important within societies that frame deaf or hard-of-hearing persons as living in a "prison of silence" (a metaphor the media uses frequently when extolling the virtues of cochlear implants) or which view them in one-dimensional perspectives-- rather than recognizing that there are many ways to be deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Many factors, some ever-present and some that have emerged in recent years, impact the unique identities of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals today. These factors, which are explored in A Lens on Deaf Identities, include explanatory paradigms that frame how deaf and hard-of-hearing people are understood within the context of disability and sociolinguistics; the relatively recent formal recognition of a Deaf culture and the emergence of bicultural frames of reference; the appearance of deaf identity theories in the psychological literature; the influence of families and schools, historical and social contexts; the acknowledgement of diversity in this population; and the technology that affects the identity of deaf people in potentially unexpected ways (e.g., cochlear implants as bionic ears, telecommunications that bring deaf people together with each other as well as with hearing people, and advances in genetics with implications for parental decision-making about hearing status and the acceptability of hearing differences). This book uses personal experiences, theoretical formulations, and research data to examine interfaces within and between each of these areas and how the tensions emerging at these junctures influence deaf and hard-of-hearing identity formation in complex, multifaceted ways that defy pervasive stereotypes of deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. A Lens on Deaf Identities will appeal to students and professional researchers in deaf studies and deaf education, as well as those interested in identity formation in the presence of "disability."

Over the past decade, a significant body of work on the topic of deaf identities has emerged. In this volume, Leigh and O'Brien bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplines - anthropology, counseling, education, literary criticism, practical religion, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and deaf studies - to examine deaf identity paradigms. In this book, contributing authors describe their perspectives on what deaf identities represent, how these identities develop, and the ways in which societal influences shape these identities. Intersectionality, examination of medical, educational, and family systems, linguistic deprivation, the role of oppressive influences, the deaf body, and positive deaf identity development, are among the topics examined in the quest to better understand deaf identities. In reflection, contributors have intertwined both scholarly and personal perspectives to animate these academic debates. The result is a book that reinforces the multiple ways in which deaf identities manifest, empowering those whose identity formation is influenced by being deaf or hard of hearing.