Table of Contents

Contents

Foreword: Deaf Loss
Andrew Solomon

Deaf Gain: An Introduction
H-Dirksen L. Bauman and Joseph J. Murray

Editors’ Note on Terminology

I. Philosophical Gains    
1. Armchairs and Stares: On the Privation of Deafness 
Teresa Blankmeyer Burke
2. Identifying the “Able” in a Vari-able World: Two Lessons
James Tabery
3. The Case for Deaf Legal Theory through the Lens of Deaf Gain
Alison Bryan and Steve Emery

II. Language Gains
4. Three Revolutions: Language, Culture, and Biology
Laura-Ann Petitto
5. Deaf Gain in Evolutionary Perspective
David Armstrong
6. Deaf Gains in the Study of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education
Ofelia García and Debra Cole
7. What We Learned from Sign Languages When We Stopped Having to Defend Them
Cindee Calton

III. Language Gains in Action
8. Advantages of Learning a Signed Language
Peter C. Hauser and Geo Kartheiser
9. Baby Sign as Deaf Gain
Kristin Snoddon
10. Manual Signs and Gestures of the Inuit of Baffin Island: Observations during the Three Voyages Led by Martin Frobisher
Clara Sherley-Appel and John D. Bonvillian
11. Bulwer’s Speaking Hands: Deafness and Rhetoric
Jennifer Nelson

IV. Sensory Gains
12. Seeing the World through Deaf Eyes
Matthew Dye
13. A Magic Touch: Deaf Gain and the Benefits of Tactile Sensation
Donna Jo Napoli
14. Senses and Culture: Exploring Sensory Orientations
Benjamin Bahan
15. The Deaf Gain of Wladislav Zeitlin, Jewish Scientist and Inventor
Mark Zaurov
16. The Hidden Gain: A New Lens of Research with d/Deaf Children and Adults
Katherine D. Rogers and Hilary Sutherland

V. Social Gains
17. Deaf Gain and Shared Signing Communities
Annelies Kusters
18. Gainful Employment: Historical Examples from Akron, Ohio
Kati Morton
19. Effective Deaf Action in the Deaf Community in Uruguay
Elizabeth M. Lockwood
20. Deaf Gains in Brazil: Linguistic Policies and Network Establishment
Ronice Müller de Quadros, Karin Strobel, and Mara Lúcia Masutti
21. Deaf Gain: Beyond Deaf Culture
Irene W. Leigh, Donna A. Morere, and Caroline Kobek Pezzarossi

VI. Creative Gains
22. DeafSpace: An Architecture toward a More Livable and Sustainable World
Hansel Bauman
23. Co-Design from Divergent Thinking
Antti Raike, Suvi Pylvänen, and Päivi Rainò
24. The Hearing Line: How Literature Gains from Deaf People
Christopher Krentz
25. Deaf Music: Embodying Language and Rhythm
Summer Loeffler
26. Deaf Gain and Creativity in Signed Literature
Rachel Sutton-Spence
27. Deaf Gain and the Creative Arts: Interviews with Deaf Artists
Jennifer Grinder Witteborg

Afterword. Implications of Deaf Gain: Linguistic Human Rights for Deaf Citizens
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas

Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index

About the Author

H-Dirksen L. Bauman is professor of ASL and deaf studies at Gallaudet University. He is the editor of Open Your Eyes: Deaf Studies Talking (Minnesota, 2008) and coeditor of Signing the Body Poetic: Essays on American Sign Language Literature. He serves as executive editor of Deaf Studies Digital Journal and he wrote, codirected, and coproduced the documentary, Audism Unveiled.

Joseph J. Murray received his PhD in history from the University of Iowa and is currently associate professor of ASL and deaf studies at Gallaudet University.

Andrew Solomon is a National Book Award winner and an activist in LGBT rights, mental health, and the arts. He is the author of Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity.
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas has written many works about topics including minority education, linguistic human rights, and the relationship between biodiversity and linguistic diversity.

Reviews

I don’t have Deaf Gain, but I am one of the fortunate hearing people who has been able to witness it, so I know something of what I’m missing. I believe that I am made richer by the simple fact of having witnessed the merit present in what most people still presume to be a deficit. This book elucidates that argument elegantly.—Andrew Solomon, from the Foreword

"Bauman and Murray. . . remind us that deafness is a part of, not apart from humanity."—Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education"The overwhelming approach is positive, optimistic, and even heroic. The concept of Deaf Gain turns on its head the usual idea that deafness should be defined through narratives of suffering and isolation. . . an excellent addition to the understanding of deafness and to the promotion of Deaf culture."—Medical Humanities