Bilingual Education in Educational and Linguistic Policies for the Deaf: government discourses and strategies

Abstract

In this article, I present some problematizations about the government discourses and strategies used by current educational and linguistic policies for the deaf. I claim that both the bilingual education provided by regular schools and the bilingual education in schools for the deaf are strategies to govern deaf identities and difference. I analyze texts of the policies, reports, and documents produced by deaf leaders or experts about bilingual education to demonstrate how the deaf school population has been subjected, normalized, and conducted to an active and productive participation in the contemporary world. I highlight the existence of different discourses on such education, some investments made by the Brazilian government, and proposals of organization and distribution of deaf subjects in school periods and spaces at the present time.