INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

a normalizing device for the deaf

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation which aimed at analyzing the discourse on the deaf who move around inclusive education environments. We collected descriptive profiles of deaf students in four schools – three public ones and a private one – and analyzed them in an attempt to single out those discourses that have produced truths about the deaf subjects. Some discursive regularities were identified, grouped, and classified in the following analytical units: Falocentrism, Patologization, and Disciplining. We argue that school inclusion works as a normalizing device for the deaf, since it tries to approximate them to normality regarding communication and behavior, and understands deafness as a pathology.