Ethical and cultural considerations of research on deaf individuals

Our 2016 article discusses how deaf genes contribute to the stability of sign language transmission and maintenance. In particular, we address how deaf genes contributed to the resilience among indigenous signed languages, enabling them to be sustained for a longer duration, and how this has shaped social policies for deaf people as a linguistic-cultural minority and as a disabled group (e.g., United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

Citations:
Burke, T., Snoddon, K., & Wilkinson, E. (2016). “Genetics and deafness: A view from the inside”. In B. Vona & T. Haaf (Eds.), Genetics of deafness (Monographs in Human Genetics series, 20), pp. 1-8. Basel, Germany: Karger. DOI:10.1159/000442334

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Erin Wilkinson

Professor

Department of Linguistics

University of New Mexico