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This chapter summarizes the major trends that run through the chapters of the Oxford Handbook on Deaf Studies in Literacy and contextualizes suggestions for where researchers and education professionals should turn their attention. Three clear trends emerged in the curating of the chapters. First, we have made notable progress in our understanding of the literacy process, but many aspects of literacy were left behind. This must be rectified. Second, it is time for a renewed focus on stronger, more robust research that takes the field beyond simple correlations to explanations of causation. These should elucidate the remaining pieces needed to understand fully the components of the literacy process. Third, research and practice must cease working in silos. Significant collaboration between the university and the classroom must become the norm. Finally, information for the purpose of information should no longer be the purpose of research. Rather, collaborative researchers must focus on the development of classroom and home interventions that will improve literacy outcomes for deaf and hard-of-hearing learners.

This chapter contributes to health humanities pedagogy by addressing the social and structural dimensions of health and healthcare through the theories and practices of disability studies. It begins by discussing the role of disability studies in health humanities approaches to social and structural determinants of health, as well as the sometimes vexed relationship between the two fields. It discusses shared commitments to the pedagogical use of narrative and provides a case study of inclusive education in practice. This chapter represents disability studies critiques of health humanities as welcome challenges to deepen its pedagogy and practices. It also maps out arguments for and some basic approaches to access in the classroom, describing pedagogy that is accountable to the claims of disability justice in practice as well as theory.

The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education, Volume 1, is here an updated edition. A range of international experts present a comprehensive overview of the field of deaf studies, language, and education. This area has grown dramatically over the past forty years. From work on the linguistics of sign language and parent-child interactions to analyses of school placement and the mapping of brain function in deaf individuals, research across a range of disciplines has greatly expanded not just our knowledge of deafness and the deaf, but also the very origins of language, social interaction, and thinking. Pairing practical information with detailed analyses of what works, why, and for whom—all while banishing the paternalism that once dogged the field—this first of two volumes features articles on topics including: language and language development, hearing and speech perception, education, literacy, cognition, and the complex cultural, social, and psychological issues associated with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. The range of these topics shows the current state of research and identifies the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Oxford Handbooks offer authoritative and up-to-date reviews of original research in a particular subject area. Specially commissioned chapters from leading figures in the discipline give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates, as well as a foundation for future research. Oxford Handbooks provide scholars and graduate students with compelling new perspectives upon a wide range of subjects in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The adage "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is a powerful one for parents, teachers, and other professionals involved with or interested in deaf individuals or the Deaf community. Myths grown from ignorance have long dogged the field, and faulty assumptions and overgeneralizations have persisted despite contrary evidence. A study of the history of deaf education reveals patterns that have affected educational policy and legislation for deaf people around the world; these patterns are related to several themes critical to the chapters of this volume. One such theme is the importance of parental involvement in raising and educating deaf children. Another relates to how Deaf people have taken an increasingly greater role in influencing their own futures and places in society. In published histories, we see the longstanding conflicts through the centuries that pertain to sign language and spoken communication philosophies, as well as the contributions of the individuals who advocated alternative strategies for teaching deaf children. More recently, investigators have recognized the need for a diverse approach to language and language learning. Advances in technology, cognitive science, linguistics, and the social sciences have alternately led and followed changes in theory and practice, resulting in a changing landscape for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and those connected to them. This second volume of the The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education picks up where that first landmark volume left off, describing those advances and offering readers the opportunity to understand the current status of research in the field while recognizing the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. In Volume 2, an international group of contributing experts provide state-of-the-art summaries intended for students, practitioners, and researchers. Not only does it describe where we are, it helps to chart courses for the future.

Gestures are a special sort of action. They communicate the individual's moods and desires to the world and they operate under different psychological and cognitive constraints to other actions. The connections between gesture and language - spoken and signed - pose some fascinating questions. How intimately are gesture and language connected? Did one evolve from the other? To what extent are they similarly processed in the brain? In what ways are signed languages akin to spoken language and gestures? Gesture, Speech, and Sign examines these questions, bringing together an international array of expertise to explore the origins, neurobiology, and uses of these three communication systems. A unique feature of the book is its discussion of how a greater understanding of these issues can be used to improve human-computer interations. Designed to appeal to a multi-disciplinary audience, Gesture, Speech, and Sign will be of interest to advanced students and researchers in neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, computer science, and those involved in deaf studies

This book explores deaf scholars’ research practices in Deaf Studies and highlights innovations in the field, by foregrounding deaf ontologies and how they inform researchers’ theoretical frameworks, positionalities and methodologies. Unique for this book is that the editors and all the authors are deaf.