Abstract:

This abstract aims to uncover a new past by exploring the educational experiences of people who are deaf and hearing-impaired in New South Wales in Australia since the 1960s. From the 1960s, education for such people observed significant changes due to technological advances including hearing aids and cochlear implants, which paved the way for auditory-verbal therapy, introducing speech reading and listening with residual hearing. This strongly influenced the mode of communication – sign or speech – to be chosen for deaf and hearing-impaired people. Previously, education had been provided through sign language. Further educational technologies also advanced the way for oral education such the FM system and live captioning in the classroom. These changes triggered upheaval, fraught tensions and controversy due to conflicting perspectives of education advocates passionate about educating deaf and hearing-impaired people. The abstract intends to analyse changing educational policy and legislation, and to recommend best practice educational strategies for people who are deaf and hearing-impaired. In summary, this is a research area that has been left underdeveloped and is waiting to be discovered.