The human right to language : communication access for deaf children / Lawrence M. Siegel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Siegel, Lawrence M., 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Deaf people--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Deaf people.

Hard of hearing people--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Hard of hearing people.

Deaf children--Education--United States.

Deaf children.

Deaf children--Education.

Hard of hearing people--Legal status, laws, etc.

Deaf people--Legal status, laws, etc.

United States.

Hard of hearing children--Education--United States.

Hard of hearing children.

Hearing impaired children--Education.

Deaf people--Means of communication.

Physical Description:

xv, 164 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Gallaudet University Press, [2008]

Summary:

In 1982, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Amy Rowley, a deaf six-year-old, was not entitled to have a sign language interpreter in her public school classroom. Lawrence M. Siegel wholeheartedly disagrees with this decision in these pages. Instead, he contends that the United States Constitution should protect every deaf and hard of hearing child's right to communication and language as part of an individual's right to liberty. Siegel argues that when a deaf or hard of hearing child sits alone in a crowded classroom and is unable to access the rich and varied communication about her, the child is denied any chance of success in life.

In this ingenious, well-grounded argument, Siegel proposes that the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution be enforced so that Amy Rowley and her peers can possess that which virtually every other American child takes for granted-the right to receive and express thought in school. He asserts that the common notion of a right to "speech" is too infrequently interpreted in the narrowest sense as the right to "speak" rather than the broader right to receive and transmit information in all ways. Siegel reveals that there are no judicial decisions or laws that recognize this missing right, and he offers a legal and constitutional strategy for change. His well-reasoned hypothesis and many examples of deaf children with inadequate communication access in school combine to make a compelling case for changing the status quo.

Contents:

The importance of communication and language

Communication, language, and education

The First Amendment : the broad right to express and receive information and ideas

The First Amendment and freedom of association

The importance of the First Amendment : protecting the extremes of speech

Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment

Equal protection and the place of education in American society

Equal protection and the right to communication and language

The application of bilingual-education law and programs to deaf and hard of hearing students

A proposal.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781563683664

1563683660

OCLC:

212409967

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description