Here is a thought for the day for teachers of the deaf:

"It is an educational imperative that the expectations that teachers in mainstream and schools for the Deaf have of deaf learners be raised to support the identity quest  of deaf learners to be confident and successful bi-cultural explorers. What can teachers do? From a deaf person’s perspective:

‘Teachers need to try and encourage learners to see the links between their language and Sign Language and their culture and Deaf culture respectfully and so they can see that being deaf and signing is quite normal. So I think teachers need to understand deeply how the cultures operate and encourage learners to build friendships across cultures. I know that it is difficult but the time invested is worth it.’ (Mcilroy, 2008: 121-134)"