The SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia

Genie Gertz, Patrick Boudreault

SAGE Publications, Jul 15, 2015 - Reference - 1128 pages

The time has come for a new in-depth encyclopedic collection of entries defining the current state of Deaf Studies at an international level using critical and intersectional lenses encompassing the field. The emergence of Deaf Studies programs at colleges and universities and the broadened knowledge of social sciences (including but not limited to Deaf History, Deaf Culture, Signed Languages, Deaf Bilingual Education, Deaf Art, and more) have served to expand the activities of research, teaching, analysis, and curriculum development. The field has experienced a major shift due to increasing awareness of Deaf Studies research since the mid-1960s. The field has been further influenced by the Deaf community’s movement, resistance, activism and politics worldwide, as well as the impact of technological advances, such as in communications, with cell phones, computers, and other devices.

This new Encyclopedia shifts focus away from the medical model that has view deaf individuals as needing to be remedied in order to correct so-called hearing and speaking deficiencies for the sole purpose of assimilation into mainstream society. The members of deaf communities are part of a distinct cultural and linguistic group with a unique, vibrant community, and way of being.

As precedence, The SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia carves out a new and critical perspective that breathes meaning into organic deaf experiences through a new critical theory lens. Such a focus is novel in that it comes from deaf and hearing allies of the communities where historically, institutions of medicine and disability ride roughshod over authentic experiences.

About the author

Dr. Patrick Boudreault is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where he oversees the Master’s in Sign Language Education program. Hailing from Quebec City, Canada, he is a native user of Langue des Signes Québécoise and is fluent in American Sign Language, English and French. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Manitoba at Winnipeg, a M.Sc. degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from McGill University, and a B.A. degree in Linguistics from Université du Québec à Montréal. He has been involved in the field of sign language teaching and Deaf Studies for more than 20 years in both Canada and the United States. Prior to joining the faculty at Gallaudet University, Dr. Boudreault was an Assistant Professor at California State University, Northridge, where he played an instrumental role in the exponential growth of one most venerable Deaf Studies programs in the United States. Dr. Boudreault has collaborated with researchers across North America on a variety of research topics related to the Deaf community and sign language. Since 2005, he has collaborated with Dr. Christina Palmer of University of California, Los Angeles. Together, they have received substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health for Deaf Genetics Projects to investigate the impact of genetic testing and genetic counseling for the deaf genes, Connexin 26 and 30, on the Deaf community in California. He and Dr. Palmer also seek to increase the Deaf community’s access to culturally and linguistically appropriate health literacy materials in both ASL and English. More broadly, Dr. Boudreault’s primary areas of interest revolve around the topics of sign language translation and interpreting, mapping sign language acquisition, developing and designing sign language assessment tools, and most recently, examining sign languages as heritage languages. At the heart of his research lies his passion for the preservation and embrace of sign language diversity with an aim toward promoting its social and academic currency. His work, academic and otherwise, is grounded in advocating for sign language as the most accessible and natural means of communication for the Deaf community.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia
• Editors: Genie Gertz, Patrick Boudreault
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, 2015
• ISBN: 1506300774, 9781506300771
• Length: 1128 pages
• Subjects: Medical / General; Reference / Encyclopedias; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social; Social Science / Sociology / General