The Salamanca Statement and sign language education for deaf learners 25 years on

ABSTRACT

The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education proposed a policy shift from special education to inclusive education models that require schools to serve all children. However, alongside this shift was a recognition that sign language access for deaf learners is essential for meeting the right to education and that this access cannot always be provided in mainstream settings. The Statement was written during an apex in bilingual education for deaf students in certain countries, and the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), joined by Swedish and Danish government and deaf advocacy organisation delegates, successfully lobbied for inclusion of Section 21. This section makes three claims regarding the importance of policy-level recognition of differences among learners, the right of deaf learners to education in a national sign language, and the suggested greater suitability of deaf schools or congregated programmes for many deaf learners. The Salamanca Statement, like Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and related General Comments, makes universalising claims within a rights-based framework; however, the competing claims of deaf advocacy organisations have posed a challenge and corrective to such statements since deaf learners are often excluded in inclusive classrooms.

KEYWORDS:

• Deaf learners
• Salamanca Statement
• inclusive education
• sign language
• bilingual education
• UN CRPD

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Kristin Snoddon is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies, Carleton University, Canada. Her research interests are in applied sign language linguistics and sign language planning and policy. Her research and professional experience includes collaborative work with deaf communities in developing sign language and early literacy programming for deaf children and parents.

Joseph J. Murray is Professor of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University. He has published widely in the fields of deaf studies, history, human rights, and applied linguistics. His research interests involve sign language policy and planning, historical deaf circulations, and cultural articulations of difference and diversity.

ORCID

Kristin Snoddon http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2866-5381

Joseph J. Murray http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2323-5852