Supporting Asian deaf young people and their families: the role of professionals and services

This paper discusses how Asian deaf young people and their families engage with welfare provision. Our findings, based on group and individual intervi ews with young deaf people and individual interviews with their parents, ex plore the assumptions underlying current provision and how they influence t he options available to young people and their families. The paper suggests that the welfare state exerts a form of social control where professional help, although well intended, may disempowers Asian deaf people by privileg ing 'oralism' over sign language, and western norms over other cultural val ues. On the other hand, positive constructions of deafness privilege Deaf i dentity while failing to accommodate ethnic or religious diversity, resulti ng in Asian deaf young people and their families having an ambivalent relat ionship with the Deaf community. We argue that services need to recognise a nd address the reasons for this ambivalence if they are to adequately engag e Asian deaf people and their families.