The functional roles that Deaf culture and American Sign Language (ASL) can play in the psychosocial development of deaf children and their relevance to the education of deaf people are much-discussed issues among those who are involved professionally or socially with deaf people in the United States. There is a tremendous interest in the notion of empowering the deaf community through recognition and respect for its language (ASL) and culture, strengthening the self-identity of deaf children through articulation of their membership in the deaf community, and generally considering deaf children as members of a bilingual-bicultural minority group.

A systematic analysis of how these concepts can be applied to the education of deaf people is far from complete. There is a need for comprehensive discussion of the issues engendered by the terms “deaf community” and “Deaf identity” that avoids stereotypes and overgeneralizations of these terms. In the history of the education of deaf people, one finds educational philosophies and practices dominated by a stereotypical concept of the deaf child, or of that child's communication needs. It is time now to acknowledge the heterogeneity of the deaf community and the diversity of the educational and social experiences that influence the development of identity in deaf people.

The primary goal of this book is to provide scholarly perspectives and insights on the Deaf identity and experience, i.e., the individual or group identity issues and experiences of deaf people who are members of the deaf community, within the context of cultural and language diversity.