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In this themed issue of Paedagogica Historica, editors Pieter Verstraete, Maria Romeiras, and Carlos Manique aim to merge the flourishing fields of disability history and the history of education. Despite past initiatives like the 2005 special issue on disability and education and the 34th ISCHE conference in 2012, these fields have largely remained separate. This issue presents three articles that intersect these domains, capitalising on recent historiographical evolutions. Both fields share activist origins, with the history of education emerging in the 19th century and disability history in the late 20th century. Recent trends in disability history, such as non-Western perspectives and renewed interest in institutional histories, align with the new cultural history of education. The included articles exemplify this synergy by exploring the architecture of French deaf institutions, tactile reading systems in East Asia, and the Perkins Institute for the Blind. This collection underscores the potential of integrating these research fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the changing architectural environments of deaf education in the nineteenth century, taking the national institutes in Paris and Bordeaux as its main focus. Founded in the late eighteenth century and initially housed in government-expropriated properties, both schools underwent comprehensive renovation and reconstruction projects in the nineteenth century to emerge as modern educational spaces. Although these projects remain overlooked in the history of modern architecture, they were closely tied to contemporary discourses on education, hygiene, and citizenship. The renovation of the Paris Institute for Deaf-Mutes during the 1820s–30s engaged pressing questions about hygiene and social progress in the postrevolutionary era of national reconstruction. The architectural transformation of the Bordeaux Institute for Deaf-Mute Girls from the 1860s not only reflected the changing pedagogical focus from sign language to oralism; it was also imbricated in broader debates about laïcité and educational standardisation as France transitioned from empire to republic. Far from being marginal, these institutions functioned as key sites for working through notions of citizenship and national identity. Their histories reveal how architectural and material frameworks could serve to impose ideology on the one hand, and provide important grounds for the formation of a minority community on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of reform of the education system of the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century was central for the establishment of new institutes for the less advantaged members of the society. Among these, special schools for D/deaf students stand out, not least because all the communities that were part of the Empire could be enrolled in these institutes. Allowing traditional school subjects to be taught to D/deaf people, the establishment of these schools represents a turning point in the history of the Ottoman education system. Through an analysis of the legal and historical framework that led to their institution, the aim of this article is to contextualise the schools for the D/deaf within the education policies of the Ottoman Empire from the second half of the nineteenth to the first decade of the twentieth century. Moreover, through an examination of their academic programmes, this article proposes to investigate the role of these institutions and their educational curricula in the attempt to make D/deaf people an active part of the Ottoman civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arts-based data from a theatre play, Apple Time, are explored in order to disrupt binarized diversity discourses dominating deaf education in a diasporic community located in a small city in Saskatchewan. Deaf education is demarcated by two camps of professionals: those who promote the development of spoken English through the use of cochlear implants, therapy interventions, and placements in oral language learning environments only; and those who promote a bimodal bilingual approach in which children are taught two languages: English and American Sign Language (ASL). Currently, most deaf children are placed in schools in their home communities and are educated primarily in oral language environments. Stories composed and performed by the deaf youth are explored with a view to identifying the affects that arise from their intra-actions among animal, earth, and machine. Through the mapping of the affects that produce and are produced by animals, earth, and machine, the focus is on the intra-actions that concern diversity discourses, and the lines of flight for disruption of diversity discourses are discerned. The inner and outer journeys of four of the eight youth performers are traced; as deaf nomads, they traverse between the affects arising from intra-actions with humans, animals, earth, and machine. Since the deaf youth performers drew upon their personal histories in developing their scenes, the article demonstrates how such histories may disrupt diversity discourses pertaining to the education of deaf children and youth, thus contributing to more recent theorizing of language acquisition as distributed throughout an assemblage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: An optimal classroom acoustic environment is essential for children with hearing impairment to achieve academic success. The aim of the present study is to provide an overview of classroom listening conditions in schools for children with hearing impairment in a developing country context.Materials and Methods: Noise levels were measured in 37 classrooms from four schools in Chennai, India. Teacher speech levels were measured to obtain classroom speech to noise ratio (SNR) data. The reverberation time was estimated for each classroom.Results: The mean noise level and reverberation time in all classrooms exceeded recommended maximum levels. The measured SNRs were not optimal for children with hearing impairment. Observations of the classrooms revealed that acoustical treatments were inadequate.Conclusion: The results indicated that Indian schools for children with hearing impairment should take steps to improve classroom listening environments. Possible solutions that may alleviate suboptimal classroom sound environments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the contributions of the Dominican Sisters and Sisters of Mercy in running schools for female deaf children in Ireland during the period 1846 to 1946. The schools were established as part of an attempt to educate Catholics in the Catholic faith and provide literacy to female deaf children. In assuming the challenge of educating deaf girls, the sisters adopted a method of teaching and learning through signed language of which they had little prior knowledge. While the history of the schools is contextualised as a central narrative of this paper, the religious orders’ attempt to educate deaf children effectively is examined in the context of teacher role models and sign language pedagogy. This paper argues that the work of the Mercy and Dominican sisters should be recognised for its contribution to the education of female deaf children, whose needs would otherwise have been neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The basic aim of this work is to present a hitherto-unknown Manual Alphabet introduced by the Real Colegio de Sordo-mudos de Madrid [Royal Madrid School for the Deaf and Dumb] in 1805 for the instruction of their deaf students. That year saw a revival of attention to teaching of the deaf in Spain -a pioneer in the education of deaf students in the 16th and 17th centuries- with the creation of the Real Colegio de Sordo-mudos de Madrid under the auspices of the Sociedad Económica Matritense de los Amigos del País. This meant that a means of communicating with and teaching students was needed to replace hearing. The newly-discovered plates containing this Alphabet, here presented for the first time, form the core of an investigation that seeks to fill a serious gap in the history of special education for the deaf in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meisei Gakuen, a private school for the deaf in Tokyo, is the only school for the deaf in Japan that uses Japanese Sign Language (JSL) as the primary language of instruction and social interaction. We see Meisei as a useful case for bringing out core issues in Japanese deaf and early childhood education, as well as for making larger arguments about the contribution of what we call "implicit pedagogical practices." In this article, we make Meisei the pivot point for two comparisons: (a) between the Meisei deaf preschool programand the programs of "regular" (nondeaf) preschools and (b) between Meisei's JSL approach and the "total communication" approach used by the public deaf preschools. The implicit pedagogical practice we track across the three types of Japanese preschool settings is mimamoru, a hesitancy of teachers to intervene in children's disputes and other social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like the general population in South Africa, adolescents with deafness or who are hard-of-hearing may be vulnerable to HIV infection. They are exposed to all known risk factors for HIV infection. Educators who work in schools for Deaf (meaning culturally deaf) and hard-of-hearing adolescents can provide valuable information about HIV-risk factors for these youths. We conducted 21 in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions with educators of Deaf and hard-of-hearing adolescents in six schools in two provinces of South Africa. We explored the participants’ perceptions of the HIV-risk factors to which their learners are exposed. The educators were aware of the adolescents’ vulnerability to HIV infection. All the participants believed that Deaf and hard-of-hearing adolescents are at risk of contracting HIV due to vulnerability to sexual abuse and higher-risk sexual behaviour. The participants were aware of substance abuse patterns, such as excessive alcohol use or recreational drug use, among their learners. Adolescence is a vulnerable period, and adolescents who are Deaf or hard-of-hearing are likewise exposed to the risk of HIV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The pedagogy of Service-Learning is a new addition to the field of Deaf Studies. As a new and non-traditional course, the implementation of a Deaf Studies Service-Learning course is a challenging task. One challenge is to develop several multi-directional relationships between the faculty member, students, deaf consumers, and community partners from deaf-related rehabilitation agencies. Another issue is addressing the major challenges identified in the Service-Learning literature. Utilizing recommendations made by an experienced faculty member, these challenges are surmountable. This combination of in-class and out-of-class pedagogy enriches Deaf Studies students' learning experience serving the deaf consumers in "real world" settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: 35delG mutation in the GJB2 (gap junction protein beta 2, connexin 26) gene is the most frequent mutation in patients with non-syndromic autosomal recessive deafness. The A1555G mutation in the mitochondrial 12S rRNA is another important genetic alteration, and is associated with aminoglycoside-induced deafness. The aim of this study was to explore the etiology of deafness and the prevalence of both mutations in the study cases. Materials and Methods: We examined audiological and dysmorphological features of all children at the Gelibolu School for the deaf. A questionnaire investigating prenatal, perinatal and postnatal etiological causes of deafness was prepared, and pedigree analysis was performed for each individual. After ENT examination, audiological tests and mutation analysis with the RT PCR method were carried out. Results: The GJB2 35delG and mitochondrial A1555G mutations were detected in 12% and 10% of all deaf school children, respectively. The percentages of genetic, acquired, both genetic and environmental, and unknown etiologies were 62.5, 20.3, 15.6 and 1.6, respectively. One patient had both Waardenburg Syndrome and the mitochondrial A1555G mutation, and one patient carried both 35delG and mitochondrial A1555G mutations. Interestingly, one sporadic case, who developed deafness after fever and aminoglycoside treatment, was found to have a homozygous 35delG mutation. His parents and healthy brother were heterozygous for the mutation. Discussion: Our results showed that dysmorphologic examination and mutation analysis are important for the clarification of etiology, and that they can be helpful for genetic counselling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infromation is presented on the international conference titled "The Imperfect Historian - Disability Histories in Europe" sponsored by the German research foundation Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) at the Historisches Institut, Universität zu Köln / History Department, University of Cologne in Cologne, Germany from August 21-22, 2012. The conference's topics, including research on disability, schools for the blind and the history of French schools for the deaf, are discussed.