Dr. Joseph J. Murray is Professor of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University. He is co-editor of Deaf Gain: Raising the Stakes for Human Diversity (2014, University of Minnesota Press) and In Our Own Hands: Essays in Deaf History 1780-1970 (2016, Gallaudet University Press) and the forthcoming The Legal Recognition of Sign Languages: Advocacy and Outcomes Around the World (Multilingual Matters).  Dr. Murray will be coming to OSU's Columbus campus and presenting on "Deaf Gain: Raising the Stakes for Human Diversity". The presentation will be exploringthe concept of Normalcy as historically defined, will apply the concept of diversity as more expansive, which includes analyzing the sensory, physical, and cognitive differences, and also identify situations as contributors within society revealing the concept of Deaf Gain.

People with sensory, cognitive, or physical differences are often classified as ‘disabled’. However, if we turn away from a view of deaf people as simply missing a sense, and look instead at the ways in which the cultural, creative, and cognitive differences of being deaf offer society a “Deaf Gain”, a different picture of the world emerges.  One in which a more expansive view of human diversity replaces a focus on normalcy.Participants will leave with an expansive understanding of physical difference as a part of human diversity, showing how the world would be a very different place if deaf people and sign languages did not exist.

March 7, 2019         4:30PM – 6:00PM    

The presentation will take place on March 7, 2019 from 4:30-6:00pm in 220 Sullivant Hall on The Ohio State University-Columbus Campus (1813 N. High St, Columbus, Ohio 43210).

This workshop is free and open to ASL students, ASL interpreters, members of the ASL and Deaf communities and the general public.