Inclusion of a deaf student in graduate studies: An analysis from autobiographical writings
RIAEE – Revista Ibero-Americana de Estudos em Educação, Araraquara, v. 18, n. 00, e023033, 2023. e-ISSN: 1982-5587
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21723/riaee.v18i00.17516 8
The beginning of the trajectory: language as a factor of inclusion
To talk about my trajectory in higher education, first, it is necessary to analyze,
albeit briefly, my insertion process in education in general. I was taken by my
parents to visit a school in 1996, when I was three years old. There, I found a
teacher who knew Libras in a basic way. They talked and the teacher showed
the classroom that had deaf students signing in Libras, as their first language.
Seeing them, I was enchanted by the signaling hands. I started to get curious,
trying to understand the context of the communication between them. The
teacher explained that the room was only for the deaf. At that time, I was not
yet bilingual. But from then on, I started to study together with other deaf
people in the early years. At that moment, I started to have contact and learned
signs in a natural way, like my first language (L1), Libras; then, the acquisition
of written Portuguese as a second language (L2). At that moment, the teacher
taught the basics with vocabulary in Portuguese and Libras, I remember the
first signs taught by her: ball, water, mother, father, in addition to other words
that I learned through writing Portuguese and new signs in Libras. At break
time, I talked with my deaf colleagues in Libras, this helped a lot for the
development of sign language. In addition, he also participated in activities
with music in Libras (FIELD DIARY, May 2021).
Although not in an inclusive context, the access to the Brazilian Sign Language emerged
as a factor for social and cognitive development. Bilingual education enabled the constitution
of the student-researcher as a social being. Razuck et al. (2007) discuss precisely the importance
of social relations in the constitution of the human being, highlighting the late introduction to
Libras as one of the factors of difficulty in the processes of learning and schooling of deaf
people. At the same time, the challenges that emerge refer both to the expansion of contact with
their own culture, as the institutional role of supporting the deaf person.
Time passed, [...] unfortunately I had to attend another institution. I was
enrolled in an inclusive school. For the first time, I felt several impasses, as
there was no accessible Libras interpreter for the deaf; even if the teacher knew
the basics of Libras, he did not understand our culture and identity. As a result,
much important information was inaccessible to me, in addition to two other
deaf colleagues who studied with me. Our learning was impaired (FIELD
DIARY, May 2021).
Despite the socialization made possible by inclusive schools, in the case of deaf
students, unlike other categories of people with disabilities, the lack of access to the Portuguese
language is configured as a different barrier, because it hinders the communicative process. In
an interview with deaf students, Mesquita (2018) points out that the Portuguese language is
seen as an obstacle to the access to higher education and to the mastery of school knowledge.
This leads a portion of deaf students to prefer special rooms for learning, despite recognizing
the role of the inclusive paradigm for social development (SANCHES; SILVA, 2019).