deaf people

deaf people



This article aims to account for the main findings of an investigation carried out between 2002 and 2003 on identity and deaf person. Our study has tried to approach the understanding of a complex process, referred to the construction of identity of the deaf people, from the psychological and social perspective of the young people and adults of the deaf community of the Metropolitan Region. It includes here, in the first place, some significant theoretical references that guided our investigation; Subsequently, the most relevant findings related to the research questions that guided our work are presented and finally, as a reflection, final comments are presented that favor a better understanding of the deaf person and their sociohistorical context.

The Metropolitan University of Education Sciences is currently the only institution of Higher Education that educates deaf children and, therefore, is in some way responsible for the education and training that this group receives. Assuming the education of deaf people means taking on much more than school subjects; it means knowing their constitution as subjects and community, as people with high potential for citizen participation, and with the possibility of contributing to the decision-making at the level of public policies that favor the real acceptance of diversity.

So far, this training of teachers of differential education in the area of ​​hearing and language has been strongly influenced by foreign studies; it is essential to have investigations of our reality, whose results allow us to materialize in a more effective way a bilingual bicultural education proposal adapted to the needs of our national context.

The "Principle of Education for Diversity" is of great importance, at least theoretically, in the context of the Chilean Educational Reform; aims to ensure true education in equal opportunities; Equitable and equal education, as the Reformation points out, means advancing in the materialization of this principle and, especially, in the generation of new policies of change.

Historically deaf people have been conceived as "defective listeners".

Invalid people (without value), disabled (lesser value) or disabled (without skills). Therefore, their citizen participation has been limited and conditioned to a series of factors such as the use of oral language, writing and reading, thus establishing a relationship of hierarchy and power asymmetry between listeners and non-listeners. The majority listener culture, like any majority culture, generates permanent and diverse mechanisms of exclusion that continue to this day. In general, they are people who have been under the watchful eye of the churches, first and then the State. Consistent with this, society, education and the family have played a reproductive role in this regard: the tendency to normalize and homogenize, even in relation to the identity considered "normal", which is the identity recognized as valuable and corresponding to that of the majority culture.Notwithstanding the above, and no doubt from the contributions of W. Stokoe, this conception begins to present paradigmatic changes. Concepts such as linguistic community, minority culture, sociocultural processes, interculturality, identity, among others, are increasingly inevitable when approaching deaf people, and it is the deaf community itself that begins to become visible.

As Skliar points out, "from a reading of multiculturalism, we understand the concept of deaf culture as a culture shaped by its own history, by processes of development, identification, discrimination, practices related to a common language" .
Identity is a key element of subjective reality; at the same time, it is formed through social processes. The social processes involved in the formation and maintenance of identity are determined by the social structure. Once the identity is crystallized, it is also maintained or modified by social relationships. The identities are produced by the interplay between the organism (individual consciousness and reflection) and the social structure, reacting on the latter, either maintaining it, modifying it or reforming it.

We have seen in the literature that consensus exists that the process of identity construction is a dynamic, active, fluctuating, open phenomenon, subject to permanent transformation and change, depending on social interactions, identifications with changing ones interpellations and social representations that occur in our environment. People relate to things and to themselves, according to the meanings they use for it and that arise in social interaction, meanings that are modified by virtue of the interpretations that the subject makes about them. Therefore, identity is an intersubjective process that occurs on three levels, the individual, group and cultural, which we artificially separate for analysis because they influence each other.

Now, considering that identity is a social product, and therefore, is related to current social conditions, we can point out the dilemmas that identity currently faces. It is relatively little differentiated, since before a tense and dynamic reality it is necessary to permanently redefine identities. We agree with José Pérez Tapia that a way of resisting the pressures of a world perceived as threatening to certain groups, societies and cultures that see their survival endangered due to economic trends that overflow them, to policies that overlap them or to cultural pressures, is only possible to resist them from a reflective and functional awareness, which allows a sense of belonging to a cohesive collective.

Economic, civilizational and informational planetarization coexist with conflicting pluralism, promoting the emergence of particular identities that struggle to conserve their differences.

As Charles Taylor points out, the demand for mutual recognition is the moral key to the dialectic universality-particularity through which identity definitions are constituted. Humanization can not pass over plurality; it is indispensable to save diversity, which requires the elimination of inequality, a sustainable demand for universalist reasons and both, an obverse and a reverse of the same objective, depend on the treatment given to the fact of plurality ...

Considering the speed of changes in the current world, since globalization opens up different social worlds -although we preserve a certain coherence and temporal continuity-, identity is open; We are constantly changing because of the need to adapt to an increasingly complex world.

The identity becomes more individualized and reflective because it is necessary to take options when the old assumptions are subject to questioning. On the other hand, as more and more emphasis is placed on the importance of subjectivity, individual rights and the belief that the individual is ultimately responsible for his or her personal construction, we are obliged to take a position on our existence and we have a permanent need to take charge of ourselves. Such a perspective is pointing out the need for a revaluation of social movements, therefore, of diversity as opposed to the action of factual groups. This requires the implementation of new ways of doing politics, or to generate bases for the exercise of collective actions.
The situation of deaf people is even more serious, since they constitute a minority that has not been really recognized or accepted as such, both from the social and the political, therefore it has been much more difficult for them to preserve their identity.Regarding the process of identity construction, there are different conceptual approaches. In general, there is consensus in pointing out that identity is the way one distinguishes oneself from others, but also that which resembles others. All identity is belonging (generalization of itself as identical to others), it is singularization (differentiation of itself as distinct from others), it is socialization (belonging / association of itself to a social group) and individualization (awareness of its irreducible singularity).

The identity of the individual must be understood as a permanent and endless effort to achieve completeness, whose paradox consists in being oneself, but at the same time, being oneself is only possible through alienation in another, from which the recognition and in which, only after a series of identifications "we recognize ourselves". As Echeverría points out: "Being oneself, that is, having an" own "identity in the social space, is always an illusion of completeness that emerges after multiple processes of identification".

One could not speak of an «identity of the subject», but of an articulated system of multiple poles of identity (racial, class, gender, profession, nationality, etc.) associated with the same signifier, with the same individual ; is the set of subject positions articulated around one or more nuclei or specific pole that, being more intense, functions as a "nodal point", as the articulating axis of the system that includes less defined poles (Laclau, 1987; Buenfil, 1991). ).

This nodal pole concentrates the meaning of the other poles of identity, which allows the subject to experience itself as oneness. However, this pole is not fixed, since, understanding identity as an open, fluctuating system, it allows access to new poles of identity through social interactions, social discourses and the interpellations that occur in it. .

From a social perspective, Larraín, in addition to recognizing as a component of identity a set of socially shared qualities and to recognize the importance of the "other" in the construction of the self, refers to a third element that points to the material component of the identity, since when producing, possessing or modeling the material, individuals project their self, their characteristics or personal qualities in the material aspect; they see themselves in it and this they do according to their self-image. Through this aspect, one can pretend to achieve self-recognition: "Material things make people belong or give a sense of belonging in a desired community". In this measure, they "contribute to modeling personal identities by symbolizing a cultural or collective identity to which one wants to access" (Larraín, 2001).

The process underlying the construction of identity is identification, whose point of departure is not the individual with his preferences, but the symbolic order with his legitimate social models that have been incorporated by the subjects within a society. Identification means that psychological process by which a subject assimilates an aspect, a property, an attribute of another and is transformed, totally or partially, on the model of it or, in Lacan's terms: "the transformation produced in the subject when it assumes an image ... "

Berger and Luckman reinforce the ideas of man as a social construction by pointing out that the reality of everyday life is something that is shared with others; which is in the "face to face" situation where the subjectivities interact, those that apprehend each other through typifying schemes; that reality is presented already objectified, and that the identifications of itself, are given with certain categories deemed credible, relevant and legitimate.

Understanding the identification process implies recognizing:

On the side of the subject, the presence of a constitutive lack and the need to fill it through the construction of various objects (an ideal, a good, a social position, etc.). Regarding this lack, the symbolic order offers a series of models of legitimate identity, identities that offer the subject the illusion of "being someone".

On the social side, it is about assuming the presence of a symbolic struggle between different agents around the legitimation of their respective meanings.The subject who "knows what he wants" is the one who has symbolized his desire, the one who manages to identify and name the object of his desire. The desire constituted symbolically (that is to say, the one that is already identified with a symbol that materializes it, that embodies it and makes it "visible" and reachable for the subject) demands to be satisfied, and its satisfaction implies a concrete act (consumption of some good material or symbolic, realization of some practice, etc.).

In the social environment there are multiple interpellations that propose different models of identity. The interpellation acts on individuals already constituted or in the process of being constituted, so that the acceptance or unacceptance of the interpellation, indicates if this has been successful or not. Althusser affirms the active character of the subject, by denying that the subject is constituted by its mere insertion in a formal structure of relations; rejects that the subject is a passive being, because it has the possibility of recognizing itself or being ignored in an interpellation; to accept it, reject it or modify it. That is, it is not enough that the interpellation be issued, it is necessary to recognize the individual in that interpellation to constitute him / her as a subject (in Buenfil, 1986).

Accepting an interpellation implies recognizing a relationship of power or authority of the entity that interpellates. To speak of interpellation implies then, to speak of the constitution of subjects. The individual interpellated and self-recognized in that interpellation is constituted, by that act, in subject of the other, in subject of a given socio-symbolic order. Interpellation is an everyday practice in various spaces of social life.

The identifications are multiple throughout the existence of human beings; in relation to this, Ricoeur uses the term "disposition" to refer to the set of identifications acquired through which the other becomes part of the same. The identity of the person is made largely of identifications with values, models, norms, ideals, in which the person recognizes and seeks to appropriate them. It discovers itself within those same elements; the acquired identifications are made their own, so that they become traits that identify the person and are a source of dynamism and creativity for her.

The social agents who have questioned the deaf, such as the school, the family and the community, according to the own narrations of the deaf people, have shown some common features. The school in its political and social role has imposed a dominant ideology (typical of the listening culture) that attempts to homogenize identities. The decree that currently frames the education of deaf people in Chile, entails a double discursive intentionality; On the one hand, differentiate the hearing person from the deaf person, finding the negative pole in the latter, representing meanings that can be assimilated to what is a defective listener, and on the other hand, it offers the false possibility of transiting to the other pole in a way to include it in the "exclusion", through an integration policy. Integration that, in the discourse of groups and deaf people, is reflected as synonymous with: denial of their own language, construction of very different worlds that establish an asymmetric relationship, ignorance of the dialogical relationship "with the other", permanent anguish a future that does not belong to them, among others.

The acquired identifications are related to the socialization processes. In the terms of Berger and Luckman, it is known that the individual is born with a predisposition toward sociality and then becomes a member of it through the internalization or immediate interpretation of an objective event insofar as it expresses meaning, that is, as regards it is a manifestation of someone's subjective processes and that they become significant for others; allows the understanding of the other and the world. This internalization is called broad and coherent socialization or induction of an individual in the objective world of a society.

Primary socialization occurs in childhood and is fundamental for the construction of subjective and social reality; secondary is any subsequent process that induces the already socialized subject to insert himself in new sectors of the objective world of his society. The subject is born within a given structure, fixed and unquestionable, in which significant, emotionally charged beings are found, those who mediate the world for him, select aspects of the world according to the place they occupy in the social structure and also of according to his individual idiosyncrasy, his biography; Identification with them is almost automatic and lasts over time. Because of this ability to identify with others, he becomes capable of identifying himself, acquiring a subjectively coherent and plausible identity. The self is a reflected entity, because it reflects the attitudesPoor socialization can also be the result of the mediatization of very discrepant worlds carried out by significant others during primary socialization (such as the case of the deaf with hearing parents); In a changing and mobile society, in which there is not always a group of belonging, modern man has lost that sense of belonging; in the case of the deaf, they have been excluded, isolated, experiencing a split between them and the world, common experience to many other people or minority groups; the associations between them arise to compensate for this isolation.

The school, as an institution, is one of the agents of this process, which consciously or unconsciously is in a situation of power from the moment it can favor a high degree of symmetry between the subjective and objective reality, which would allow the construction of a successful socialization or, on the contrary, it can lead to an asymmetry, to a deficient socialization, product of the social constructions that occur there in the interactions between the different educational agents.

Identity also manifests at the group level; a group is a set of individuals, of interpersonal relationships, (Tajfel, 1981), which lead to a social identity.

Social identity encompasses characteristics of a person in terms of their relationships with formal and informal groups, that is, sex, race, nationality, religion, etc. It is the part of individual self-concept that derives from the knowledge of their participation in social groups, together with the value and emotional meaning linked to that belonging. (Tajfel, 1981). The groups refer to: family, work circle, leisure club, group of friends, political party, church, etc. The individual builds his or her social identity through adherence to a certain number of groups.

Richard Boyd (1995), referring to the groups, considers that these are made up of three systems: the personal system, constituted by the characteristics and qualities of the individuals, that influence the development of the group, the social system, which is given in any situation in which the subjects are grouped with a common objective and the cultural system, which places the group within a broader context. The group is characterized by a unique set of representations, norms, hopes, traditions, procedures, systems of control and direction. For the identity of the group, the medium offers convictions, values, rules and customs that will organize the behavior of the group, frame of reference that contains common beliefs, as well as a common ethics and aesthetics.

Wagner and Elejabarrieta, in JF Morales (1997), consider that social representations are the basis of group identity and refer to the elaboration of a social object by a community, which is only possible in societies in which there is communication . These representations are elaborated through discourse and communication, which allows the collective distribution of ordinary knowledge or common sense. When a group shares representations and is aware of who its members are, they talk about a reflective group; they collectively elaborate their norms, beliefs and acceptable behaviors in the group.The collective thought and the reflexivity of the groups complement each other and are the prerequisites of the social identity; This implies the knowledge of the groups to which it belongs. On the other hand, it is the group that gives rise to a shared baggage of knowledge, common sense and models of justification, which induces the members of the group to situate themselves in a common discursive space; This social consensus is a functional consensus and allows the group to guarantee the collective process of the representations and to remain as a reflective social unit and thus preserve the life of the group, standardizing the social identity and group interactions.
The study of social representations focuses on three areas that refer to: representations that guide social behavior, culturally constructed objects that provide social subjects with the impression of belonging to specific communities, and finally, "objects" or representations considered "Controversies" that are related to conflict and social inequality.

In the case of deaf people, these constitute groups that are in constant intra and intergroup dynamics. The intergroup is referred to both the deaf community and its different groups, as well as the relations with the listening community. In the latter, exchanges are governed, in general, by a clinical paradigm, which emphasizes deficiency over difference; this makes it possible to identify an asymmetry in intergroup social relations, which is materialized in social status, social power and majority versus minority.

The individual belongs to a group and experiences tensions between their individual identity and the identity of the group; the individual influences the group, reinforces it and sustains internal solidarity; at the same time, the individual feels limited in the totally free expression of their individual identity by adhesion to the group; This is the genesis of another type of conflict.
The cultural identity is different and wider than the previous one; it transcends individuals in space and time and existing groups, but does not establish a direct relationship with it. It is also dynamic, since the definition of community identity sometimes weighs more on belonging to a specific community and, on other occasions, belonging to a different community.

The fact that a solid group or community identity is configured depends, in part, on the homogeneity of the members; the more common traits they have, the more similar there will be in individual and public narratives. The homogeneity is expressed in a good communication and sense of solidarity.

Other aspects that favor the community identity are the standardization of the language, clear group border with coincidence in terms of objectives, good internal organization that guarantees a greater integration of the group. However, cultural identity is not an established essence, which remains unchangeable, regardless of history and culture.

Faced with the approach of cultural diversity, Bhabha proposes the thesis of cultural difference, that is, argues that no cultural practice can claim for itself a supremacy: "a space that denies identity and politics as negotiations between transcendent or multicultural subjects, allows us to conceptualize an international culture, based not on the exoticism of multiculturalism or the diversity of cultures, but on the inscription of the hybridation of culture "(1994), understood as a constant process of definition of actors and political subjects and affirmation and denial of cultural meanings. These are processes of construction of identities and differences within the framework of processes of continuous changes that erode the original senses that refer the subject and authority to cultural discourse.
Therefore, the claims for cultural purity and supremacy are unsustainable. The cultural difference problematizes binary divisions -such as those of past and present, tradition and modernity, normality and abnormality, deaf and hearing- at the level of cultural representation and its discourse.

In short, the category of cultural difference becomes a frame of reference for thinking about the processes of construction of identities and also a basis for rethinking education, an education that assumes not only cultural diversity, but also that the culture of each group is not homogeneous, but an organized form of own diversity, intragroup heterogeneity, product of the crossing of their multiple individual and collective identities.The human being, constantly strives as Melucci puts it, to build a biography to suit him, in a specific field of possibilities and limitations, that is, to build a personal identity framed in a world in which there is an unequal distribution of opportunities, unequal access to citizenship, asymmetry in potential. In this selection of varied alternatives, the individual is subject to pressures to achieve uniformity and conformity with the system.

The process of individualization implies recognizing oneself as an independent subject of group or cultural mandates. These, in the society of global communication, demand the right to be different and resistant to the absorption of their diversities within the dominant models. We need to design a political and institutional framework capable of governing the plurality, autonomy and richness of differences, and express our responsibility for the ecosystem. Solidarity by similarity and solidarity by difference, which are mixed to form contemporary forms of social bond. When the emphasis is placed on difference, identity runs the risk of disintegrating.

We situate the current debate between the position that tries to perpetuate the "established order" and, therefore, exclusion, and the logic oriented to transform the processes that maintain it and to emphasize the urgent need to rethink the processes of inclusion, social participation and the creation of an integrating citizen culture, which necessarily implies a deepening of democracy.

Some significant findings

Below are some results obtained from the research developed, which is of a qualitative nature using a case study design. 20 deaf people participated in it, with whom an in-depth interview was conducted.

Regarding the most relevant psychological features that intervene in the construction of the identity of the deaf subject, such as self-concept, motivation, life project, goals, value development, it is possible to point out that most of the interviewees reflect accepting his condition as a deaf person, after a generally very conflictive process, in areas such as: family, educational, work, social interaction; In addition, unfavorable experiences for an acceptance of their difference are appreciated in their first stages of life; They express with respect to their childhood, a certain degree of suffering that translates into frustration and shame. In general, they have been exposed to situations of rejection, exclusion, isolation, "normalizing" attempts (to communicate orally, to represent the world as hearing people, to behave socially as such, among others), which make them feel overstretched, since they can not respond to the demands "oyentizadoras" of the environment.

"... My dad ... he has never accepted me, ... he has a very conservative mentality, ... and one has to sacrifice everything he can. But he does not understand that I need to be happy ... "" There was no privacy ... My parents talked and when I asked them to explain, they told me to shut up ". "Since I was deaf, they helped me little" ... "I looked at them, I asked, I asked, they told me and they told me little". ... "I remember when I was a kid, I could not say what I felt, because they did not understand what I thought ..."

This leads to unusual life crises that resolve differently; some, through rebellion and self-affirmation and others, through passivity and submission.

As a consequence of the above, a decrease in basic trust is appreciated, both with respect to oneself and to others.
The majority is able to recognize these emotions, which enables, favors and drives, consciously or unconsciously, the search for peers who accept and accept them.

Because of this, there is a crucial moment or moments in the life of each one that leads them to oppose the normalizing and listening commands and to initiate an individual process of vindication of their deaf person status. This, in general, occurs in the encounter with deaf peers, with their own language and culture.In the case of deaf children of deaf parents, most of the stories indicate a childhood, usually satisfactory, little conflictive, where acceptance is given from the beginning and where communication is fluid. In these cases, later, the emergence of conflict when they should be incorporated into the listening world (regular schools, work, among others) is appreciated.

In relation to the cognitive aspect, some recognize the skills they have developed to insert themselves in different social environments, which often do not develop to the maximum due to lack of opportunities. However, others recognize lack of personal ability to develop social networks and seek new opportunities.

The social insertion that many have achieved has involved a high personal cost, especially regarding self-demand and effort. In general, to the extent that they concretize certain achievements, this constitutes a stimulus to further develop their capabilities.

All manifest reflective thinking, which occurs at different levels. Some show a deep degree of reflection about themselves and their environment, which leads them to concrete actions at the individual and collective level. In others, a more superficial and / or incipient level of reflective thinking is observed, which makes it difficult for them to substantiate the reasons for their unsatisfactory life situation, for which reason they fail to develop adequate strategies to reverse or change this situation.

On occasion, it is possible to find personal life stories with similar episodes; However, the construction of its own valorization has followed different paths. In some cases, especially in deaf children of hearing parents, they have low self-esteem in their childhood, which often remains in time until the encounter with their deaf peers and, by obtaining a certain degree of social recognition, this legitimizes them and it allows them to revalue the achievements obtained and, in turn, encourages them to open up to new possibilities from a personal and collective point of view.

In the case of the deaf children of deaf parents, a different process is seen; in general, they feel highly valued and accepted during their early childhood, until they suffer the impact of entering school and begin to devalue, as a result of the expectations that they do not know about their deaf person status, since they are given adequate demands to hearing people, without guaranteeing them the minimum conditions for their development and personal development.

The majority achieves a satisfactory degree of autonomy in different levels (family, work, social), with some limitations in the economic aspect. Some show a relative autonomy that focuses on carrying out activities of daily life; however, they maintain a high degree of dependence on other planes.

Regarding values ​​and beliefs, there are some relevant elements such as pointing out the need that society considers universal ethical values: respect for a healthy coexistence, equality, mutual respect, honesty, solidarity, preservation of the integrity and dignity of people. Many of the subjects, although they criticize the traditional moral stance of their family of origin, tend to be guided in their behavior by conventional moral standards. The presence of religious beliefs is also appreciated, since many of them declare themselves to be observant Catholics, even though there are others who have a more critical view of the Catholic Church. They also attach importance to political life, as a vehicle to improve the social conditions to which they are exposed.
With regard to motivations and actions, there is a balance between the individual and the collective. All recognize the need to develop cognitive, affective and social skills that allow them greater self-realization and projection towards the future. Regarding the collective, the emphasis is placed on the deaf community, through the search for cohesion and group development. In some cases, the actions come to constitute leadership within the community.Most deaf people include, in the definition of themselves, deafness as a particular characteristic; some also refer to age, motherhood and sexuality. A few allude to other complications that make it more difficult to function in daily life.

In short, we can point out with respect to the perception of oneself that the majority, although they share negative life experiences at some point, finally manage to build a positive self-image, self-affirming as they socialize with deaf people, join their community , they build a sense of belonging and come to feel validated as people. This shows how subjectivity is shaped by contact with the other (intersubjectivity). To the extent that it is recognized in another, it becomes "someone", it is recognized as a person. In the context in which the processes of primary (family) and secondary socialization (especially education) have been developed, we can point out that, in general, these have not facilitated a full personal development or a true social integration, except for the socialization in and through the deaf community.

The consolidation of achievements in different areas (educational, social, labor, family), is an impulse to project and open up possibilities for the future. These achievements are based on values, motivations and beliefs, both individual and collective, which constitute the symbolic references with which they have been identified. However, some have not achieved an acceptable educational level, join the world of work, or conform family, which leads to personal dissatisfaction and hinders the possibility of projecting.

Almost all of the people interviewed stated that they felt discriminated against, a situation that in our society is quite common with minority groups, which is related to the social representations that have been built about deaf people.

"When I entered the Association it was an impact ... they spoke with signs, full of expression, with face and body ... It was not a world apart, it was a world with another culture. There I transformed myself in person. Then I discovered that I had my own identity ... then I developed the identity through contact with deaf people. "

... "Before I had a very low self-esteem ... I did not dare ... I felt ashamed ... They pushed me ... they did not let me fulfill myself as a person ..."
It is known that the process of identity construction is diverse and complex; In the case of deaf people, this process has been especially conflictive, due to multiple factors: a divergence between how reality is presented to them, through the various social agents (family, education, among others), and their own perception and experience as a deaf person of this reality and of himself. This generates additional conflicts, the difficult process of building any identity.

The affirmation of identity is seen relatively later than what occurs regularly and is related, in most of the interviewees, to the encounter with other deaf people. It is appreciated that one of the articulating poles of identity is the fact of being deaf, around which other poles of identity are condensed.

In this continuous process, new dimensions or poles of identity are incorporated, insofar as they are inserted socially and play different roles; However, not all of them achieve true social integration. The foregoing is related to the lack of social recognition, low status, limited access to social networks, less educational preparation, among others.

The deaf have formed a community; they show awareness and sense of belonging to that community, with an intense emotional meaning linked to that belonging; However, despite the fact that they share many common elements, they have not achieved a solid inter- and intra-group cohesion, which does not favor a wider development of the group, nor its projections as regards significant changes in their current living conditions.If we understand that identity is generated through social processes, within a specific social structure and a particular historical context, in the case of deaf people, the traditional "listening" and welfare approach has demarcated public policies in terms of Deaf people (education, citizen participation, rule of law, etc.).

"... Later when I came to the association of deaf people I liked it better, I was happy with the signs and there I got used to ... I know other people (listeners), few, but my best friends are from the association ...". However, there is evidence of a change in the revaluation and reconceptualization of deaf people, as a minority group, with a culture and their own language, which impacts the community itself, especially young people, who undertake actions in search of a positioning social and political, that provides them with greater opportunities and where they can build a space of equality, respecting the differences that are theirs. The demands and actions refer to the recognition of sign language, improvement of the quality of education, access to culture and the world of work, among others.

The foregoing has been reflected in the beginning of changes in social representations and in some governmental policies, which brings a new context to the construction of identity.

"... the concrete proposition that we want is simply that they recognize us as a deaf community with their own culture and with sign language, that I hope there are interpreters as mediators between society and the deaf community. That there are interpreters in public services, in doctors, lawyers, among professors ... ".

The most important and common objections to all the interviewees, refer to the early and permanent requirement to communicate through oral language, and the prohibition of the use of sign language, both within the educational and family environment.

"... I only have up to 4 ° basic education was not very good so I would like teachers to know sign language and so I could understand better, before they only taught: 'TODAY THERE IS SUN' and 'TODAY IS CLOUDY' , stayed in that ... During the primary socialization highlight family overprotection and disqualification of their own ability to make decisions, which generates, according to their stories, insecurity, distrust, fear, isolation, fragility and feeling of inferiority; this is increased by subsequent negative experiences in other social areas. It should be noted that deaf people interviewed as children of deaf parents or deaf siblings report having a higher level of family communication compared to deaf people without deaf relatives, who say they felt excluded from the communication dynamics within the family. family.

"... My dad ... he has never accepted me, ... he has a very conservative mentality, ... one has to sacrifice everything he can. But he does not understand that I need to be happy ... " "... I grew up always looking at my lips, and later I learned signs ... my mother noticed, but she did not know signs. I said 'but you suffer, and I also suffer ... we both suffer', my mother said: 'it's over, now we better use signs, before it was not right' ".

With regard to secondary socialization, it should be noted that, in terms of education, most of the interviewees expressed dissatisfaction with both the type of education received (oral) and the achievements, since the educational level they obtain does not allow them to integrate into optimal form to the wider social world.

On the other hand, the experiences of integration in the regular school are evaluated as negative in most cases, which is due to different factors: school overload, absence of real elements that allow a development in equal conditions, a restricted coexistence that generates isolation, feelings of inferiority, little valorization of effort, among others."... At the school of listeners I realized that they learned everything, and I was angry because I also wanted to understand ... At the school of listeners yes, I felt alone ..."

"... The schools were very different, when I studied the Fitzgerald code was used, then I went to another school (of listeners), I was desperate, I did not understand anything, I was scared, nervous, worried, it was very complicated and I did not understand anything; Mathematics a little, history a little, physical a little, but Castilian, philosophy, nothing ".

The school in its political and social role has imposed a dominant ideology challenging a homogenizing identity typical of the listening culture. The decree that currently frames the education of deaf people in Chile entails a double discursive intentionality; On the one hand, differentiate the hearing person from the deaf person, finding the negative pole in the latter, representing meanings that can be assimilated to what is a defective listener, and on the other hand, it offers the false possibility of transiting to the other pole in a way to include it in the "exclusion", through an integration policy, integration that, in the discourse of deaf people themselves, is reflected as synonymous with: denial of their own language, construction of very different worlds in an asymmetric relationship, ignorance of the dialogical relationship "with the other", permanent anguish for a future that does not belong to them, among others.

The incorporation to the labor world is also mentioned as a negative experience: restricted labor field, low social status positions, low salaries and, in general, informal and unstable jobs. All the above, results in a limited social development and detriment to their quality of life.

The propositions mentioned refer to different and at the same time varied plans, which are oriented to the development of governmental policies that recognize the "deaf person", guarantee a better quality of life and promote changes in social representations through programs of information and disclosure. Some of these propositions are:

    Recognition and respect for the deaf community's own language (sign language), which entails the need to train qualified interpreters.
    Respect and appreciation of the organizations of the deaf community.
    Promotion of the participation and identification of deaf people with their communities.
    A complete education in conditions of equity and quality that considers the particular characteristics of a minority culture.

It is possible to group the strategies and actions indicated in more general areas such as family, educational, labor and social.

In relation to the family environment, it can be pointed out that a large part of the interviewees come from families of high and middle socioeconomic strata, hearing families and normative types. The majority is confronted with situations of unacceptance, either openly (rejection), or covert (overprotection), with normalizing attempts. In this context, the way to confront these attempts is diverse: in some cases, there is an initial subordination during early childhood, which is maintained over time, expressing itself in actions with an evasive connotation and that translates into conformation of couple, procreation, as a deceptive form of autonomy and independence of the family of origin and their mandates. Others manage to move from this initial subordination to a certain degree of autonomy and to a vindication of their condition as a deaf person, through the search for deaf peers, the use of sign language and the encounter with their community.

In the cases of deaf children of deaf parents, their families are generally relational in nature, accepting in a natural way the fact of having a deaf child, not presenting the negative impact that is generated in the hearing parents. This allows the development of a good level of personal acceptance, which favors the spontaneous use of social integration strategies.
Many of the interviewees have managed to form their own family, usually with couples who are also deaf, having children with frequent listeners, whose education they assume quite naturally; some of these unions have ended in separation and reorganized families. Those who have not formed a family keep living with their family of origin.There is a significant percentage of unemployment, either real, which means that they have never managed to access any employment source, or covert, that is, with sporadic jobs. Many manifest desire to excel and need to improve to get better jobs and closer to their interests.

Much of the work is done with or for deaf people. It is worth noting that most of them access jobs due to the influence of other deaf people, or of their family or friends.

Within the social sphere, participation within groups and organizations of deaf people is a predominant, stable and highly relevant element. Some play a passive role, looking more than anything for a place of shelter and emotional refuge, while others actively participate, guided by a broader social perspective that promotes changes in the living conditions of deaf people, such as, for example, the training of interpreters, educational changes, increase of the cultural level, recognition of the language, among others.

Despite having many elements in common, they have only managed to develop partial and ineffective strategies to consolidate true intra- and inter-group cohesion.

For many, the attendance to religious groups is also a factor of important social integration.

It is also important to highlight, as another strategy used, the consolidation of stable and lasting friendship bonds, which usually happens with people who are also deaf.

It has been mentioned that communication and language are vital elements for personal and social development, which appears explicitly and transversally in the narrations of deaf people. They express a great value of communication as a way to avoid isolation, which usually occurs in primary socialization, with highly negative consequences in the development of the subject, a situation that is reversed in the case of the people interviewed, in the meeting with your language and your culture.

"... I feel very good in my work, because everyone respects communication in Sign Language. It gives me encouragement, because before when I worked in another company all the people were listeners and did not understand how deaf people were ... ".

The leaders have been constituted on the basis of the conceptualization of the deafness they possess, which is crossed by the representations that have prevailed in society at a certain historical moment.

The oppression exercised towards the deaf community is the result, as has already been pointed out, of a welfare vision of deafness and, consequently, the leaders who have emerged in previous generations, practice their role based on this vision. However, we currently see the attempt of new leaders to act in a different way, which coincides with the socio-anthropological vision of deafness, which has impregnated them with a positive representation of it, favoring the consideration and appreciation of deaf cultural elements. , such as sign language and the conscience of shaping community.It has been mainly the leaders who have the capacity to question and detect needs around the relationship between the two communities involved: majority deaf and minority deaf.

Regarding the hearing community, leaders recognize weaknesses at the governmental level, which are partly due to a lack of social recognition of the culture and language of the deaf community, and on the other hand, because it has not achieved position itself in this majority context. Regarding the educational system, few leaders recognize it as a relevant aspect, although it should be constituted in the basic foundation, from which the development of the person and the community is favored. This limited attention to the educational field may have its origin in that it has prioritized the development of oral language, trying to homogenize the deaf with the majority community, limiting the integral development in them.

As for the deaf community, the leaders also recognize requirements that are related to the lack of training of leaders who have a new conceptualization of leadership, away from the one that currently predominates, where the leader is the one that concentrates a great number of tasks, without Share them previously with your followers for the development of the organization. From the above, the passivity, lack of initiative and commitment to the goals of the group, of most followers.

"... for example, the leader says, informs: 'I the president need help, help to accompany me to a company', and nobody wants, then he says: 'Now, come on, who wants?' And nobody answers ... "

Only a part of the deaf community is beginning to make the conflict aware and to detect deficiencies in the capacity to organize, which can be a cause, and at the same time effect, of its low social status.

As for the characteristics of the deaf leaders, a positive self-concept predominates in them, which manifests itself in an ability to question both the deaf and the hearing community. However, it is striking that a questioning of their own management is not appreciated.

The leaders are those who question and detect needs based on their own life history, which they consider common and general to all the members of the community. That is, they can not organize the opinions of their followers and recognize through them the needs of their group: they determine needs, transform them into objectives and carry out strategies. The foregoing has triggered an undercover authoritarian leadership, because although they are democratically elected and generate spaces for discussion, they are the ones who make the decisions and carry out the actions to achieve the objectives. The concentration of responsibilities on the leaders not only hinders the renewal of them, but also stagnates the personal development of the followers.
"Then I take them, I advise them, I'm explaining them so they understand ..."
"... I want young people to come to learn, to write, to think, I teach them for the future ..."

On the other hand, the leader does not organize long-term objectives, which are explicit and specific to his group, since he usually proposes objectives that seek to satisfy needs that coincide with those of a primary group and not with those of an organization.

The leaders, although they can not motivate, do have an indirect influence, because they have a more prestigious status within the group in which they have been located; This is partly due to their social skills, which allow them to function in some spheres of the social structure, but they are not enough to encourage the participation of followers.In general, leaders are validated by their followers, for sharing a conceptualization of common deafness, for the capacity they demonstrate for initially respecting group norms and for being democratically elected.

In relation to the symbols, it is possible to mention sign language as the one that appears with greater force and relevance; On the one hand, it is the unifying element of the culture of deaf people and, on the other, it is the fundamental axis that mobilizes the processes of construction of individual and collective identity.

"... Later when I came to the deaf association I liked it better, I was happy with the signs and there I got used to ... I know other people (listeners), few, but my best friends are from the association".

The work is also a symbolic manifestation present in some deaf people, since beyond the productive or economic, it is an objective element of socialization and identification with the community.
The connection of the deaf around the same type of work (education of deaf people, instructors of sign language, sports training), generates a collective identification, historically charged with a symbolic value of identification with the group.

"... At the beginning, it was hard for me to believe the trust I had been given to work as a teacher, it was a great responsibility for me ... I have learned a lot ... And over time I assumed responsibility alone. Every day that I see my children learn, it excites me ... I remember when I was a girl, I could not say what I felt, because they did not understand what I thought ... ".

In terms of values ​​and beliefs, it is seen in many of the interviewees, a predominance of the religious over a worldview that includes ideological or political elements. Regarding the latter, even when a solid conception of these aspects is not observed, they do manifest the need for society to act under certain universal ethical principles regarding them, such as solidarity, respect, equity, non-discrimination , among others. Notwithstanding the above, some of them point to the existence of inter and intra-group discriminatory practices within themselves.

It stands out in some of them, a special appreciation for personal preparation in terms of knowledge, which would facilitate social integration, an appreciation for economic stability which would favor individual achievements in different areas.

Among the specific agents who have actively participated in the construction of the social representations of the "deaf community", are the professionals through whom the subject is collected in our society; doctors, specialist teachers, in the area of ​​deafness, hearing aids, medical technologists, psychologists, among others. Our country, like all of Latin America, has been influenced by "oralism", as a dominant ideology, from countries in Europe, especially Germany and Italy, for more than 150 years.The deaf person has been "detected", distinguished as a "pathological being", in the first years of life, subjected to multiple examinations of clinical character and oriented to Special Education, an entity to which has been granted the mission of attending to any difference that does not conform to the "normal" patterns that govern regular education. The main objective pursued, in the case of deaf people, is to reverse the pathological situation that surrounds these subjects, through the teaching of oral language, for which technology is used especially and a strong awareness of the Parents, in order to understand, that the "defect" of being deaf lies in hearing, and therefore, in the development of the only possible language (the oral) that would allow him to communicate and develop his cognitive and adaptive potential , integrating efficiently to the listening world. The representations manifested through these events, continue to this day. The mandates of education have fallen heavily on deaf people, their families and the community. The narrations of most of the interviewees demonstrate this reality. His experience in education, whether special or regular, has contributed to denying his status as a deaf person, as being socially and culturally different. Their school participation in homogeneous curricula, in regular education, has not only prevented them from developing an integrated identity, but also, in most cases, restricted access to the elements of culture, to its minimum expression . The aforementioned has brought as a consequence, a limited citizen participation conditioned to a series of factors such as the use of oral language (in most cases frankly insufficient), poorly functioning levels of writing and reading, thus establishing a hierarchy and power asymmetry between listeners and the deaf.

"... after I went to school and I was used to talking to Signs, I tried to talk to a child in Signs and they did not understand me, then I talked to the teacher and she told me, that's not very ugly, you have to talk, use the voice, I asked myself why, well I learned to speak; I asked my parents why they do not use the signs at school and they told me that it is important for communication in the future to be able to speak. I did not understand but I kept quiet and I agreed to speak, to speak because it was important for the future, I felt that those who spoke with Signs were discriminated against ... "

"... Schools were very different, when I studied the Fitzgerald key was used, then I went to another school (regular) and there was no key, I was desperate, I did not understand anything, when I changed school I was scared, nervous, worried, the teacher explained to me that I needed more help and little by little I was learning in school ... I was the first deaf person, it was very complicated but I did not understand anything; Mathematics a bit, history a little, physics a little, but Castilian, philosophy nothing ".

Language is an important element in the construction of identity, as well as identifications with representations, interpellations, norms and transmitted values, which tend to emphasize deficiency without considering the potential, which leads to a very conflictive process and sometimes not very successful, in terms of identity formation.

Public policies and the rule of law that currently exists in our country are a reflection of this view. It should be noted that despite the above, there is a process of change, product of the contributions of deaf people and their organizations, as well as the contributions made by different sciences through their research (especially socio-anthropological studies and linguistic), which is expressed in a reconceptualization and revaluation of deaf people, as a minority group, with a language and culture that are their own, and where hearing and, therefore, the lack thereof, do not play a significant role

Currently, these changes begin to be reflected in a Bilingual-bicultural Education proposal in Latin America and other countries, with the active participation of the deaf community, which tries to revert the current social and political condition in which they live, as a group minority In our country, it has not yet been the subject of public debate and almost all schools for deaf people remain oralists.

Final commentsFinally we think that the deaf community has expanded and organized making interesting proposals, some of which have managed to materialize; example of this is the signing of the agreement with ANATEL, which has allowed deaf people access to information through an interpreter in the news programs of Chilean television channels; the organization in the current year of the First National Meeting of Deaf people; sporadic participation in the Parliamentary Commission for Disability; participation in the commission within the College of Teachers, among others. Likewise, it is necessary for the deaf community to further strengthen its cohesion and group organization, in order to attract more people who share similar life experiences, taking into account that the members of this group are being models for the new generations.
The results described above lead us to affirm that the deaf community wants participation and not to be represented by others, wants institutional transformations that allow the community to express their most essential needs and interests, and not be "narrated" by others, and over everything, living dignified before other communities.
The challenge is to solve "how to accompany" each other on the road, respecting the particularities of people and groups, that is, the coexistence of identities, each with its own identity and mutual respect.

As Skliar puts it, "respecting difference can not mean letting the other be as I am or letting the other be different from me just as I am different from the other, but letting the other be as I am not, leaving that he is that other who can not be me, that I can not be, that he can not be an other me; it means letting the other be different, letting be a difference that is not at all a difference between two identities, but a difference of identity, an alterity absolutely different from me ".

Democracy must propose to create a new space for negotiation and keep it within the democratic framework. It is necessary to open channels of representation to excluded interests, make decision making more transparent; This is the real responsibility: without the recognition of differences and with agreement on the limits that must be imposed, there will be no room for differences or decisions, but for catastrophe. The issues that pass through politics are only part of the richness of social and cultural life. The democratic life considers the procedures, but above all, the definition of an open space of guarantees and rights that makes everything that does not pass through politics not be reduced to the rank of waste or pathology.

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