Language and identity in the Australian deaf community

This paper examines the relationship between the Deaf¹, their language, Auslan² (Australian Sign Language), and the encompassing dominant hearing society and its culture in the context of the development of effective language policies for the Deaf, not only within the context of schooling but in the years prior to formal education and beyond the school. The paper has developed out of an initial response by AUSLAB (the Australian Sign Language Advisory Board, formed by the Australian Association of the Deaf) to the Federal Government’s Green Paper, The Language of Australia: Discussion Paper on an Australian Literacy and Language Policy for the 1990s. (Commonwealth of Australia 1990), later superseded by the White Paper, Australia’s Language: The Australian Language and Literacy Policy (Commonwealth of Australia 1991a & b).