Abstract
Different social groups construct the meanings of physical difference to fit competing ideologies and interests. In the case of deafness, there are two primary ways of understanding the condition. The first perspective is a cultural perspective, which understands deafness to be a difference, not a disability, and American Sign Language (ASL) is used as the language technology. The infirmity, or medicalized model, of deafness considers deafness to be a disability that advanced technology can cure or treat. Each of these two perspectives of deafness- the infirmity model and the cultural model- informs the kinds of technology that are developed and adopted for, by, and about deaf people. The infirmity model of deafness encourages technologies that correct the deaf body – to correct the deaf body to be hearing. The cultural model of deafness, on the other hand, encourages the development of technologies that allow deafness and hearing to co-exist.
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