Abstract
Historically, South African society has had conflicting views on the nature and nurture of Deaf people and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) people. In the context of the diverse nature of South African cultures and societies, the reality and existence of deaf and LGBTIQ people’s lives have historically remained invisible and oppressed. Consequently, this study explored how South African school youth, who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and identify as either LGBTIQ, navigate their learning and social environments in schools. In an attempt to discover ways in which the South African schooling system can respond to and accommodate deaf learners who embody queer identities. This study was based on a qualitative approach with a phenomenological paradigm and a historical narrative research design. In this study, data was collected by means of face-to-face interviews with five queer participants who are deaf. The findings from this study found that South African school youth who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and that identify as LGBTIQ are systematically disadvantaged and limited in their capacity to navigate their learning and social environments during their schooling years. The findings highlighted that owing to the institutionalisation of heteronormativity and compulsory heterosexuality within the frameworks, policies, curriculum and infrastructure of the deaf schools, the learners are systematically denied knowledge of the existence of queer sexualities and gender identities. Therefore, their school years are marked with uncertainty of sexual identities, internal conflict and homophobia owing to the compulsory heteronormative culture embedded within the deaf institutions. Thus, the findings of this study illustrated that queer learners who are deaf, only disclose and embrace their queer sexualities and gender identities once they have left school. Consequently, the findings of this study revealed the following needs: firstly, for queer youth who are deaf to receive diverse sexuality education within the classroom. Secondly, for accommodations in the school uniforms and infrastructure. Thirdly, addressing the sign language communication barriers of teachers, counsellors and parents. Lastly, the need for access to diverse sexuality resources and materials for the queer youth who are deaf.
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)