Teaching at the School for the Deaf: Narratives about the Experience with Deaf Students with Cochlear Implant

Abstract

The present article aims to analyze how educational experiences with deaf students using cochlear implants (CI) are narrated by teachers in deaf schools. For this purpose, an ethical and political commitment is assumed with deaf communities, producing analyses based on the articulation between the field of Cultural Studies in Education and Deaf Studies. The materiality of the research consists of narrative interviews, produced in sign language, with teachers working in deaf schools in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Two analytical axes were organized based on narrative recurrences: 1) ways in which deaf students using CI are categorized and the production of the notion of postmodern deafness; 2) educational experiences with deaf students using CI. It is concluded that, in contemporary times, there are various ways of being deaf, which can be described as postmodern deafness. The narratives indicate that these individuals are shaped by diverse and unique experiences. This diversity is a characteristic of our time, defined by fluid relationships and digital connections, which precludes a single answer or identification regarding the representation of deaf students using CI. These issues pose a challenge for the school inclusion of these individuals considering the multiple ways of constituting themselves as deaf individuals in contemporary times.