Deaf Rights Activism, Global Protests

Background

Modern-day scholarly literature on deaf protests is scarce with the exception of literature on the Deaf President Now campaign of 1988, as outlined in publications by John Christiansen and Sharon Barnartt, and Oliver Sacks, for example. Other literature that relates to protest, such as the aforementioned study by Barnartt, is limited to a region; there has also been an explosion of protest since 2008 that has yet to be documented. As a result of the scarcity of the literature, searches were undertaken to locate protests in more recent (i.e., post-1970s) times. Of the 200 relevant reports and concurrent literature identified, only a few prominent protests have been included. Therefore, some major and significant protests may well be absent from this entry, given that the author is illustrating protest through a Western, English-literate lens. However, he has attempted to be true to the spirit of the times, where the nature of deaf protest across the world is truly global in its reach, and marks a starting point from which to expand upon, theorize, and attempt to make sense of the modern nature of deaf protests from a global perspective. It cannot be stressed enough that the protests recorded here are not exhaustive. For clarity, they are grouped below by issue.

Equal Rights

Protests for “Deaf rights” or “equal rights,” where deaf people take to marching through the streets of cities and towns, are fairly commonplace although they vary in size. As this entry was being written, one of the largest-ever demonstrations by Deaf people occurred, when an estimated 10,000 people in Berlin, Germany, took to the streets to demand equal rights, and the first-ever demonstration by deaf people in Poland saw a turnout of 8,000. A smaller group of 300 deaf people in São Paulo, Brazil, blocked the streets in protest for equal rights. Usually popular with deaf people and colorful, these events feature protesters marching under banners through a city or town, and converge at a symbolic place (e.g., Trafalgar Square in London) to listen to protesters, put on protest performances, or celebrate Deaf pride and passion. As in the case of São Paulo, many protests end with nonviolent direct action, such as blocking the roads to bring media attention to the demands of the protest. Similar marches may make fairly specific demands—for example, those campaigning for more sign language interpreters (Hawaii) or employment opportunities (South Africa).

Deaf people have a long history of uniting with disabled people to oppose cuts made by governments imposing austerity measures. In some incidences, people take creative direct action. In a protest campaigning for an Ontarians with Disabilities Act, disabled people attempted to gain access, en masse, to the Ontario provincial legislative office where the issue was being debated, hence highlighting the limitations of access—deaf people requested sign language interpreters to access the meeting. In South Africa, deaf people were involved in a protest by disabled people demanding more spaces for fans at the 2004 men’s football World Cup.

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