Exploring Intersectional Identity in Black Deaf Women: The Complexity of the Lived Experience in College

Although the concept of intersectionality has gained widespread attention in social science research, there remains a significant gap related to the impact of intersectionality on identity formation for persons negotiating multiple marginalized social identities. This gap is especially significant among Black women who are Deaf—two groups who face significant education disparities and are largely absent in the research literature. In response to these gaps, we conducted a qualitative study with Black Deaf women ( n = 25) on a college campus to better understand the lived experiences of this population and its impact on their intersectional identity. Many of the participants expressed, despite problems related to gender, race, and disability, the number of Black Deaf women on campus made them feel that they had a support network of allies. Implications for future research and social work practice are discussed.

“From White Deaf People’s Adversity to Black Deaf Gain”: A Proposal for a New Lens of Black Deaf Educational History

This paper re-visits Bauman and Murray’s (2014) “Deaf Gain,” using the perspectives of Black Deaf history. Due to the enforcement of the Oral policy in U.S. educational system during 1890s through 1960s, the language transmission of American Sign Language (ASL) for many generations of White Deaf people were fractured (Gannon, 1981). During the segregation, approximately 81.25% of the Black Deaf schools maintained their signed education, which ironically provided better education than the White-only schools. Consequently, the language variation of Black Deaf people in the South, called as “Black ASL” (McCaskill et al., 2011), flourished due to the historical adversity of White Deaf experience. Thus, the sustainability of Black ASL empowered this ethnic group of American Deaf community, which I am re-framing to what I call “Black Deaf Gain” and presenting a different objective of the ontology of Black Deaf experience.

Examining the Intersectionality of Deaf Identity, Race/Ethnicity, and Diversity Through a Black Deaf Lens1,2

The authors of this chapter, a Black Deaf scholar immigrant from South Africa and a Black Deaf academic from the South Side of Chicago, highlight the limited scholarly exploration of Black Deaf lives within the context of the Deaf community. They present what they could extract from existing literature on Black Deaf historical perspectives, the influence of Black American Sign Language, and what it means to be Black and Deaf. In addition, considering the scarcity of research on non-White Deaf communities, they contribute their personal experiences to highlight the transnational identity issues of Black Deaf immigrants and the identity issues of Black Deaf individuals within the context of the United States. This chapter provides a thought-provoking treatise on what it means to be Black and Deaf with unique backgrounds in the United States.

Toward a Theory of Black Deaf Feminism: The Quiet Invisibility of a Population

This article considers ways to enhance the conceptualization of Black deaf women’s lived experiences through an intersectional lens. An intersectional framework places emphasis on how social constructions of blackness, gender, and deafness shape the identity and experiences of Black deaf women. To outline the need for such a theory, this article first examines social constructions of Black deaf women in the intersections of race, gender, and deafness in comparison to current research. Second, I discuss the relevancy of social theories (i.e., critical race feminism, feminist disability theory, and theoretical approaches prominent in critical deaf studies) in providing a conceptual framework for an analysis of identity in relation to race, gender, and disability. Finally, I introduce the tenants of Black Deaf feminism and discuss the ways Black Deaf feminism enhances intersectionality by centering the lived experience from the standpoint of Black deaf women.