The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus
The present paper will explore the impacts of the recent pandemic crisis on the Italian Deaf community, as a linguistic minority. Recent research has shown that minorities are suffering much more the effects of the pandemia because their lack of access to services and in a much wider perspective, to...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sociology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2020.612559/full |
| _version_ | 1818715919341322240 |
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| author | Elena Tomasuolo Tiziana Gulli Virginia Volterra Sabina Fontana |
| author_facet | Elena Tomasuolo Tiziana Gulli Virginia Volterra Sabina Fontana |
| author_sort | Elena Tomasuolo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present paper will explore the impacts of the recent pandemic crisis on the Italian Deaf community, as a linguistic minority. Recent research has shown that minorities are suffering much more the effects of the pandemia because their lack of access to services and in a much wider perspective, to education and welfare. We will show that, during the COVID crisis, despite lockdown measures, various actions at the formal political level (from the Italian Deaf Association) and at the informal level (from the members of the community) promoted sign language and the Deaf community within the hearing majority. In particular, we will analyse how social networks were exploited at the grassroot level in order to promote social cohesion and share information about the coronavirus emergency and how the Deaf community shaped the interpreting services on the public media. The role of social networks, however, has gone far beyond the emergency as it has allowed deaf people to create a new virtual space where it was possible to discuss the appropriateness of various linguistic choices related to the COVID lexicon and to argue about the various interpreting services. Furthermore, in such emergency, the interpreting services were shaped following the needs expressed by the Deaf community with the results of an increased visibility of Italian sign language (LIS) and empowerment of the community. Materials spontaneously produced by members of the Deaf Italian community (conferences, debates, fairy tales, and entertainment games) were selected, as well as materials produced by LIS interpreters committed to guaranteeing access to information. By highlighting the strategies that a minority group put in place to deal with the COVID-19 emergency, we can better understand the peculiarities of that community, creating a bridge between worlds that often travel in parallel for respecting the peculiarities of each other (deaf and hearing communities). |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T19:11:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-56baf24e54234ccebb1baa99a7cfc61a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2297-7775 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T19:11:01Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sociology |
| spelling | doaj.art-56baf24e54234ccebb1baa99a7cfc61a2022-12-21T21:35:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sociology2297-77752021-01-01510.3389/fsoc.2020.612559612559The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of CoronavirusElena Tomasuolo0Tiziana Gulli1Virginia Volterra2Sabina Fontana3Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, ItalyGroup for the Study and Information of the Italian Sign Language, Rome, ItalyInstitute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Rome, ItalyDepartment of Humanities, University of Catania, Catania, ItalyThe present paper will explore the impacts of the recent pandemic crisis on the Italian Deaf community, as a linguistic minority. Recent research has shown that minorities are suffering much more the effects of the pandemia because their lack of access to services and in a much wider perspective, to education and welfare. We will show that, during the COVID crisis, despite lockdown measures, various actions at the formal political level (from the Italian Deaf Association) and at the informal level (from the members of the community) promoted sign language and the Deaf community within the hearing majority. In particular, we will analyse how social networks were exploited at the grassroot level in order to promote social cohesion and share information about the coronavirus emergency and how the Deaf community shaped the interpreting services on the public media. The role of social networks, however, has gone far beyond the emergency as it has allowed deaf people to create a new virtual space where it was possible to discuss the appropriateness of various linguistic choices related to the COVID lexicon and to argue about the various interpreting services. Furthermore, in such emergency, the interpreting services were shaped following the needs expressed by the Deaf community with the results of an increased visibility of Italian sign language (LIS) and empowerment of the community. Materials spontaneously produced by members of the Deaf Italian community (conferences, debates, fairy tales, and entertainment games) were selected, as well as materials produced by LIS interpreters committed to guaranteeing access to information. By highlighting the strategies that a minority group put in place to deal with the COVID-19 emergency, we can better understand the peculiarities of that community, creating a bridge between worlds that often travel in parallel for respecting the peculiarities of each other (deaf and hearing communities).https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2020.612559/fulldeaf communityCOVID-19Italian sign languageaccessible informationdigital educationresilience |
| spellingShingle | Elena Tomasuolo Tiziana Gulli Virginia Volterra Sabina Fontana The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus Frontiers in Sociology deaf community COVID-19 Italian sign language accessible information digital education resilience |
| title | The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus |
| title_full | The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus |
| title_fullStr | The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus |
| title_short | The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus |
| title_sort | italian deaf community at the time of coronavirus |
| topic | deaf community COVID-19 Italian sign language accessible information digital education resilience |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2020.612559/full |
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