Citation

Plann S. Sign Lang. Stud. 2008; 8(2): 181-210.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Gallaudet University Press)

DOI

10.1353/sls.2008.0002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Scholars of Deaf history regularly extol the virtues of residential deaf schools. These were the places where deaf youngsters made deaf friends and met deaf role models, often for the first time. There they learned their natural language and became immersed in Deaf culture. Something similar could be said of the schools for blind children, which afforded blind girls and boys an education and introduced them to the special culture of blind people.

All of this is true, but it is not the whole story. Residential schools for deaf and blind students (the two groups were often housed together) were also sites of child abuse.

We are faced, then, with something of a paradox: How could the institution that so greatly benefited deaf and blind students also expose them to such potentially great harm? Contemporary insights from the fields of psychology, sociology, and social welfare may shed some light on the subject. Recent research suggests that both disability and the residential setting constitute risk factors for abuse, and children with communicative difficulties face additional perils. Deaf children in particular are at greater risk of physical and sexual abuse than ordinary children, and more so if they attend residential schools. Blind children too are believed to experience high rates of physical and sexual abuse.