ABSTRACT
The paper proposes an analysis of the conceptualization of deaf collective identity in the media discourse about inclusive education between 2011 and 2015 in Germany. In the history of German education, the linguistic identity of the deaf has been mainly ignored. The deaf, socially defined as people with disabilities, were generally taught in special schools. By the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations in 2008, Germany has undertaken to change this situation. Theoretically, our research is guided by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), assuming a dialectical relationship between discourse and society (FAIRCLOUGH; WODAK, 1997), in which social cognition serves as an interface (VAN DIJK, 1997, 2002, 2003). Methodologically, we base our study on a socio-cognitive idea of Idealized Cognitive Models (ICM) (LAKOFF, 1987), presupposing that the identities of the people involved in the media debate about inclusion are represented in a stereotypical way. The results of the analysis show a mosaic of different conceptualizations of deaf identity, predominantly from the perspective of others.
Keywords:
critical discourse analysis; deaf identity; inclusive education