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Unisa Press book brings joy to the disabled
This Hidden History Series book, Deaf me normal: deaf South Africans tell their stories, tells the stories of deaf people for the first time.
The book Deaf me normal: deaf South Africans tell their stories is based on an oral history project that started in 2000. Prior to 2007, no books had been written on the culture and history of deaf people in South Africa. One of the motivations behind writing this book is to build a bridge between the deaf and the hearing worlds, so that hearing people can access the hidden lives of deaf South Africans. The social discrimination against deaf people during apartheid resulted in their extreme marginalisation and the silencing of their experiences. It is no surprise that until now the sketchy and patchy historical record has been dominated by the views of the state, the church and the medical establishment.
In the words of Gavin Johnson: "We never had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for deaf people. There is nothing for the deaf community. Deaf people were affected but they were not given an opportunity."
The first part of this book consists of translations from South African Sign Language (SASL) of the life stories of 19 deaf people from four different provinces, as a small start to the process of their healing and the healing of other deaf people. The act of telling one’s story is often experienced as therapeutic and the group is heard. The life stories provide a direct window into the experiences, perceptions and worldviews of the deaf narrators. Deaf people in South Africa, together with deaf communities worldwide, have a culture with a long and rich oral folk tradition based on the use of SASL. As in other cultures with an oral tradition, the language is used in face-to-face interactions and does not have a written form.
In the second part of the book, the project team uses examples from these life stories to discuss the nature of South African deaf culture. Life stories give us important information about the ways people make sense of their world in relation to themselves and to others in their past. The analysis investigates the nature of deaf identity, culture and memory in South Africa.
The groundbreaking book Deaf me normal: deaf South Africans tell their stories by Ruth Morgan came about with the help of 19 courageous deaf people who trusted the author and her project team enough to share their stories, which form the basis of this book. They cannot be named because the project team decided to protect their identities by giving them pseudonyms.
Special funding by the South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD) ensured that Ruth Morgan’s dreams for this book could be realised - to share the stories of deaf people with a wider audience.
The newly released book Deaf me Normal forms part of the flagship Unisa Press’s Hidden Histories Series, of which the Director of Unisa Press, Beth le Roux, is very proud. "The series is still growing," she says. "In the hands of an energetic new team and with an array of prominent authors, this is fast becoming an important flagship series for us."
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