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Deaf Studies Programs

Deaf Studies is a scholarly field concerned with Deaf culture, sign language, and deafness, which incorporates methodologies and perspectives from multiple disciplines, including anthropology, biology, economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Depending on the university, Deaf studies programs have different area’s of specialization.

In the United States, several schools offer graduate programs in Deaf studies in addition to undergraduate programs. These schools include Gallaudet University; the California State University, Northridge (CSUN); National Technical Institute for the Deaf; Ohlone College; and the University of Bristol.

Gallaudet University

Gallaudet, located in Washington D.C., was the first and remains the only institute of higher learning designed specifically for deaf students. It was founded in 1864, having operated as a secondary school for seven years before that, and is named for Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who founded the oldest American School for the Deaf and whose son was the first and longest-tenured president of the university. Gallaudet is an officially bilingual school, with both American Sign Language and English used. Only a small number of hearing students are admitted as undergraduates, though they are more commonly admitted to the graduate school.

Gallaudet is the leading research institute in the world for American Sign Language and Deaf Studies. Gallaudet has been home to some of the most significant research in Deaf Studies, including the first serious work on the linguistics of sign languages and Stokoes demonstration that American Sign Language is a full-fledged language as rich and complex as a spoken language. The ASL and Deaf Studies Department offers majors in both ASL and Deaf Studies, as well as a Deaf Studies minor. Both majors share same core requirements, but the ASL major focuses more heavily on the study of the language, both proficiency and linguistics, while the Deaf Studies major focuses on other aspects of Deaf culture.

Gallaudet and the greater Gallaudet community is considered the heart of Deaf American culture, due to the school’s long history and preeminence, its status in the 19th and 20th centuries as the defender of manualism and sign language, and the activism of its student body and alumni community. Gallaudet’s press publishes perhaps the most, and certainly many of the most prominent, American works on Deaf Studies, as well as the Deaf Studies Digital Journal.

California State University, Northridge

CSUN is a public university in the Los Angeles area and is the third, largest university in California. It is home not only to the National Center on Deafness, but the International Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, which it hosts annually in San Diego. It enrolls the largest number of deaf students in mainstream classrooms (a disclaimer which leaves out Gallaudet) in the United States. The National Center on Deafness provides scholarships, leadership opportunities, communication classes, and communication access for 200 deaf students each year, as well as services like speech transcription, interpreting, note taking, and academic advising.

CSUN’s Department of Deaf Studies is part of the Michael D. Eisner College of Education The undergraduate program offers one of six concentrations: ASL/English interpreting, ASL/ASL Literature, Pre-Deaf Education, Deaf Community Services, Deaf Cultural Studies, and an individualized plan. All Deaf Studies majors also take 21 credits of ASL courses, an introduction to Deaf Studies course, and an intermediate course on American Deaf culture. Advanced courses include those on Deaf history, Deaf literature, Deaf learning, Deaf culture, hearing science, and the law and the Deaf.

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