The DeafBlind Episteme Scale was used to examine the perspectives of DeafBlind individuals regarding their identities, lived experiences, and language attitudes. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to analyze the data. Findings revealed that DeafBlind individuals rely on touch to access information through tactile languages. However, barriers to this access can result in communication breakdowns and negative experiences, limiting their ability to navigate audiovisual-centered societies. These challenges shape DeafBlind individuals’ perceptions of their positionalities within society, which were identified as tactile modality, distantism, vidism, and acceptance.
References
[1]
Aldalur, A., Pick, L. H., & Schooler, D. (2021). Navigating Deaf and Hearing Cultures: An Exploration of Deaf Acculturative Stress. TheJournalofDeafStudiesandDeafEducation,26, 299-313. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enab014
[2]
American Association of the Deaf Blind (2009). How Do People Become Deaf-Blind? Frequently Asked Questions about Deaf-Blindness. https://www.aadb.org/FAQ/faq_DeafBlindness.html
[3]
Arndt, K., & Parker, A. (2016). Perceptions of Social Networks by Adults Who Are Deafblind. American Annals of the Deaf, 161, 369-383. https://doi.org/10.1353/aad.2016.0027
[4]
Bauman, H. D., & Murray, J. J. (2017). Sign Languages. In Handbook of Language and Society (pp. 243-260). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212896.013.28
[5]
Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Identity, Self-Concept, and Self-Esteem. In HandbookofPersonalityPsychology (pp. 681-710). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012134645-4/50027-5
[6]
Berge, S. S., & Raanes, E. (2013). Coordinating the Chain of Utterances: An Analysis of Communicative Flow and Turn Taking in an Interpreted Group Dialogue for Deaf-Blind Persons. SignLanguageStudies,13, 350-371. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2013.0007
Bradbury, J., Clark, J. L., Grossman, R., Herbers, J., Magliocchino, V., Norman, J., Romilus, Y., Sirvage, R., & Van Der Mark, L. (2019). ProTactile Shakespeare: Inclusive Theater by/for the Deafblind. Shakespeare Studies, 47, 15-81.
[9]
Caselli, N., Pyers, J., & Lieberman, A. M. (2021). Deaf Children of Hearing Parents Have Age-Level Vocabulary Growth When Exposed to American Sign Language by 6 Months of Age. TheJournalofPediatrics,232, 229-236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.01.029
[10]
Chapman, M., & Dammeyer, J. (2017). The Significance of Deaf Identity for Psychological Well-Being. TheJournalofDeafStudiesandDeafEducation,22, 187-194. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/enw073
[11]
Checchetto, A., Geraci, C., Cecchetto, C., & Zucchi, S. (2018). The Language Instinct in Extreme Circumstances: The Transition to Tactile Italian Sign Language (List) by Deafblind Signers. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 3, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.357
[12]
Clark, J. L. (2017). Distantism. Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature, 13. https://wordgathering.syr.edu/past_issues/issue43/essays/clark.html
[13]
Crenshaw, K. W. (2013). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. In The Public Nature of Private Violence (pp. 93-118). Routledge.
[14]
Cue, K. R. (2020). Hegemonic Deaf and Hearing Cultures in the United States: A DeafEcological Systems Perspective. Doctoral Dissertation, Lamar University.
[15]
Cue, K. R., Pudans-Smith, K. K., Wolsey, J. A., Wright, S. J., & Clark, M. D. (2019). The Odyssey of Deaf Epistemology: A Search for Meaning-Making. AmericanAnnalsoftheDeaf,164, 395-422. https://doi.org/10.1353/aad.2019.0017
[16]
Danermark, B. D., & Möller, K. (2008). Deafblindness, Ontological Security, and Social Recognition. International Journal of Audiology, 47, S119-S123. https://doi.org/10.1080/14992020802307388
[17]
De Vos, C. (2012). Sign-Spatiality in Kata Kolok. SignLanguage&Linguistics,16, 277-284. https://doi.org/10.1075/sll.16.2.08vos
[18]
Ding, C., Fulmer, G., Hoffman, L., Hand, B., & Suh, J. K. (2023). The Dimensionality of the Epistemic Orientation Survey and Longitudinal Measurement Invariance for the Short Form of EOS (EOS-SF). FrontiersinEducation,8, Article 1239751. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1239751
[19]
Eckert, R. C., & Rowley, A. J. (2013). Audism. Humanity&Society,37, 101-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160597613481731
[20]
Edwards, T. (2014a). Language Emergence in Seattle Deafblind Community. Doctoral Dissertation, University of California-Berkeley. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2s6504k8
[21]
Edwards, T. (2014b). From Compensation to Integration: Effects of the Pro-Tactile Movement on the Sublexical Structure of Tactile American Sign Language. JournalofPragmatics,69, 22-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.05.005
[22]
Edwards, T. (2015). Bridging the Gap between Deafblind Minds: Interactional and Social Foundations of Intention Attribution in the Seattle Deafblind Community. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 1497. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01497
[23]
Edwards, T. (2017). Sign-Creation in the Seattle Deafblind Community. Gesture,16, 305-328. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.16.2.06edw
[24]
Edwards, T. (2018). Re‐Channeling Language: The Mutual Restructuring of Language and Infrastructure among Deafblind People at Gallaudet University. JournalofLinguisticAnthropology,28, 273-292. https://doi.org/10.1111/jola.12199
[25]
Edwards, T. (2022). The Difference Intersubjective Grammar Makes in Protactile Deafblind Communities. Lingua, 273, Article 103303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2022.103303
[26]
Edwards, T., & Brentari, D. (2020). Feeling Phonology: The Conventionalization of Phonology in Protactile Communities in the United States. Language,96, 819-840. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2020.0063
[27]
Emens, E. F. (2021), Disability Admin: The Invisible Costs of Being Disabled. Minnesota Law Review, 105, 2329-2377. https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2938
[28]
Fidrocki, M. (2018). Q&A: How Pro-Tactile American Sign Language: (PTASL) Is Changing theConversation. Western Oregon University. https://wou.omeka.net/s/repository/item/12043
[29]
Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS: Introducing Statistical Method. Sage Publications.
[30]
Fischer, L. C., & McWhirter, J. J. (2001). The Deaf Identity Development Scale: A Revision and Validation. JournalofCounselingPsychology,48, 355-358. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.48.3.355
[31]
Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In TowardaJustWorldOrder (pp. 47-54). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429269400-8
[32]
Friedner, M., & Kusters, A. (2020). Deaf Anthropology. AnnualReviewofAnthropology,49, 31-47. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-010220-034545
[33]
Gertz, G. (2003). Dysconscious Audism and Critical Deaf Studies: Deafcrit’s Analysis of Unconscious Internalization of Hegemony within the Deaf Community. University of California.
[34]
Glickman, N. S. (1993). Deaf Identity Development: Construction and Validation of Theoretical Model. University of Massachusetts. https://doi.org/10.1037/t15703-000
[35]
Goffman, E. (2009). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Simon and Schuster.
[36]
Goodwin, S. E. (2020). The Challenges That the Deafblind Community Faces without Access during a Pandemic. ReDEAFining Academic Collaboration, 1, 15-17. https://www.lamar.edu/fine-arts-communication/_files/documents/deaf-studies-deaf-ed/rac1-1
[37]
Gordon, L. (2016). ‘Intersectionality’, Socialist Feminism and Contemporary Activism: Musings by a Second‐Wave Socialist Feminist. Gender&History,28, 340-357. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12211
[38]
Granda, A., & Nuccio, J. (2018). Protactile Principles. http://wasli.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PT-Principles-Movies-Final.pdf
[39]
Graves, A. (2022). Checking All the Boxes: A Critical Theory Analysis of Educational Experiences of CongenitallyDeafblind College Students. Doctoral Dissertation, Texas Tech University. https://hdl.handle.net/2346/89245
[40]
Hauschildt, S. R. (2022). Please Say Tuli with the Capitalized T, Ya. Doctoral Dissertation, Lamar University.
[41]
Hauser, P. C., O’Hearn, A., McKee, M., Steider, A., & Thew, D. (2010). Deaf Epistemology: Deafhood and Deafness. AmericanAnnalsoftheDeaf,154, 486-492. https://doi.org/10.1353/aad.0.0120
[42]
Haviland, J. B. (2013). The Emerging Grammar of Nouns in a First Generation Sign Language. Gesture,13, 309-353. https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.13.3.04hav
[43]
Henner, J., & Robinson, O. (2023). Unsettling Languages, Unruly Bodyminds: A Crip Linguistics Manifesto. Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability, 1, 7-37. https://doi.org/10.48516/jcscd_2023vol1iss1.4
[44]
Hersh, M. (2013). Deafblind People, Communication, Independence, and Isolation. JournalofDeafStudiesandDeafEducation,18, 446-463. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/ent022
[45]
Huddy, L. (2001). From Social to Political Identity: A Critical Examination of Social Identity Theory. PoliticalPsychology,22, 127-156. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895x.00230
[46]
Humphries, T. (1975). The Making a Word: Audism.
[47]
Hutchins, E. (2010). Cognitive Ecology. TopicsinCognitiveScience,2, 705-715. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01089.x
[48]
Kusters, A. (2014). Language Ideologies in the Shared Signing Community of Adamorobe. LanguageinSociety,43, 139-158. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404514000013
[49]
Leigh, I. W., Marcus, A. L., Dobosh, P. K., & Allen, T. E. (1998). Deaf/Hearing Cultural Identity Paradigms: Modification of the Deaf Identity Development Scale. JournalofDeafStudiesandDeafEducation,3, 329-338. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.deafed.a014360
[50]
Leland, A. (2022). Deafblind Communities May Be Creating a New Language of Touch. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/deafblind-communities-may-be-creating-a-new-language-of-touch
[51]
Maxwell-McCaw, D. L., Leigh, I. W., & Marcus, A. (2000). Social Identity in Deaf Culture: Comparison of Ideologies. Jadara, 33, 14-28. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1856&context=jadara
[52]
McAlpine, A. (2017). Keep in Touch: A Comparative Analysis of Visual and Protactile American Sign Language. Honors Senior Theses/Projects. https://wou.omeka.net/s/repository/media/4902
[53]
Miller, C. G. (2015). The Deaf-Blind Dilemma. Braille Monitor. https://nfb.org//sites/default/files/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm15/bm1504/bm150402.htm
[54]
Morrison, S., & Johnson, N. (2020). Pilot Study: Understanding How Deafblind People Make Meaning of Their Avowed and Ascribed Identities. Deaf Studies Digital Journal, 5. https://doi.org/10.3998/15499139.0005.004
[55]
Nuccio, J. (2008). Seattle’s Deaf-Blind Service Center: A New Vision. Deaf-Blind Perspectives, 15. http://www.nationaldb.org/dbp/apr2008.htm#dbsc
[56]
Nuccio, J. (2020). Coronavirus: Jelica on Deafblind Issues. Deaf Community Center. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=saved&v=3300886649945968
[57]
Nuccio, J., & Granada, A. (2013). Welcome to Pro-Tactile: The Deafblind Way. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l11lahuiHLA
[58]
O’Brien, C., Kroner, C., & Placier, P. (2015). Deaf Culture and Academic Culture: Cultivating Understanding across Cultural and Linguistic Boundaries. JournalofDiversityinHigherEducation,8, 104-119. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038821
[59]
Petronio, K., & Dively, V. (2006). Yes, No, Visibility, and Variation in ASL and Tactile Asl. SignLanguageStudies,7, 57-98. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2006.0032
[60]
Pizzolato, J. E., Chaudhari, P., Murrell, E. D., Podobnik, S., & Schaeffer, Z. (2008). Ethnic Identity, Epistemological Development, and Academic Achievement in Underrepresented Students. Journal of College Student Development, 49, 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.0.0020
[61]
Protactile Language Interpreting National Education Program (n.d.). Western Oregon University. https://www.protactilelanguageinterpreting.org/
[62]
Pudans-Smith, K. K., Cue, K. R., Wolsey, J. A., & Clark, M. D. (2019). To Deaf or Not to Deaf: That Is the Question. Psychology,10, 2091-2114. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2019.1015135
[63]
Quartz (2016). Deafblind Americans Develop a Language That Doesn’t Involve Sight or Sound. Quartz. https://qz.com/758851/deafblind-americans-developed-a-language-that-doesnt-involve-sight-or-sound
[64]
Quinto-Pozos, D. (2002). Deictic Points in the Visual-Gestural and Tactile-Gestural Modalities. In ModalityandStructureinSignedandSpokenLanguages (pp. 442-468). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511486777.021
[65]
Reynolds, K. J. (2015). Social Identity in Social Psychology. In InternationalEncyclopediaoftheSocial&BehavioralSciences (pp. 313-318). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-097086-8.24064-6
[66]
Rocketship, F., Ali, K., & Braithwaite, B. (2022). Intralinguistic and Crosslinguistic Variation in the Turn-Taking Organization between Deaf-Blind Signers: New Evidence from Bay Islands Sign Language. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics,28, Article No. 16.
[67]
Scambler, G. (2009). Health‐Related Stigma. SociologyofHealth&Illness,31, 441-455. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2009.01161.x
[68]
Senghas, A., & Coppola, M. (2001). Children Creating Language: How Nicaraguan Sign Language Acquired a Spatial Grammar. PsychologicalScience,12, 323-328. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00359
[69]
Shariff, R. A. (2014). Leaders Who Are Deafblind: A Phenomenological Study of Educational Experiences. Doctoral Dissertation, Gallaudet University.
[70]
Smith, T. B. (2002). Guidelines: Practical Tips for Working and Socializing with Deaf-Blind People. Sign Media Inc.
[71]
Spear, K. (1994). Is There a Deaf-Blind Culture. National-Center News,25, 12-20.
[72]
Tactile Communications (2024). Dear Friends and Allies of Tactile Communications, It’s Hard to Believe That a Decade Has Passed since We Opened Tc’s Doors. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/share/153qCfkbS4/
Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making Sense of Cronbach’s Alpha. InternationalJournalofMedicalEducation,2, 53-55. https://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd
[75]
Turner, J. C., & Reynolds, K. J. (2010). Introduction Part 2: The Story of Social Identity. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/24530/8/04_Turner_The_story_of_social_id_2010.pdf
[76]
Van Der Mark, L. (2023). Deafblind Tactile Signers: The Dynamics of Communication and Space. Sign Language Studies, 23, 500-526. https://doi.org/10.1353/sls.2023.a905537
[77]
Watharow, A., & Wayland, S. (2024). Different Ways of Being, Doing and Telling in Qualitative Research: Lessons from Deafblind Studies. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23, Article 16094069241244864. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241244864
[78]
Willoughby, L., Manns, H., Iwasaki, S., & Bartlett, M. (2020). From Seeing to Feeling: How Do Deafblind People Adapt Visual Sign Languages? In Dynamics of Language Changes (pp. 235-252). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6430-7_15
[79]
Wimberly, B. M. (2023). The Past into the Present: The Evolution of a Deafblind Identity. Doctoral Dissertation, Lamar University.
[80]
Wolsey, J. (2017). Perspectives and Experiences of Deafblind College Students. The Qualitative Report, 22. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2017.2739
[81]
Wolsey, J. A. (2018). Resiliency and Adaptability in the Experiences of DeafblindUniversity Students. Doctoral Dissertation, Lamar University.
[82]
Wright, S. J. (2017). From Deaf to Deaf-Blind: A Phenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Deaf-Blind Individuals in the Deep South. Doctoral Dissertation, Gallaudet University.
[83]
Wright, S. J. (2020). Deafnormativity: Who Belongs in Deaf Culture? Disability&Society,36, 1221-1239. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.1787818
[84]
Yunashko, B. (2015). Deaf Interpreters: The Weapon against Vidism. Street Leverage. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l4l1MKI5jM
