Bilinguismo para surdos: um panorama dos estudos acerca dessa temática nos últimos 20 anos.

Abstract

Deafness can be understood from various perspectives, such as biological, social, and cultural. In a clinical definition, it can be perceived as a disability with low incidence; 1 in every 1000 newborns are born deaf. In this sense, the birth of a deaf child within a hearing culture is still considered a challenge of family, social, cultural, school, and political adaptation that must be overcome. Deaf people need to be seen by everyone as beings belonging to a solid, coherent, and rich culture, capable of developing and influencing society. This research aims to present an understanding of bilingualism for deaf people in the current literature, based on studies published between 2000 and 2023. Its specific objectives are to present the main arguments regarding bilingualism for deaf people and to discuss the potential and weaknesses of this topic. This is a literature review with a qualitative approach, aiming to review, within pre-established parameters, the main aspects of bilingualism for deaf people. Furthermore, this work is based on the content analysis proposed by Bardin. The keywords for this work were submitted to the following platforms: SCIELO, where only one result was obtained, and BDTD, which yielded approximately forty-four results, of which only seven comprise the discussion in this work. The discussion topics include: accessibility to technologies and bilingual pedagogical practices for the deaf community, and family and the inclusion of bilingual public policies for the deaf community. It is concluded that, although the deaf population in Brazil is large, bilingualism for the deaf is still an area that lacks research and discussion; we know that studies and scientific dissemination strengthen actions that promote quality education and raise issues of rights for this population.