"Silent Citizens": Citizenship Education, Disability and d/Deafness at the Ontario Institution for the Education of the Deaf, 1870-1914

Abstract

This thesis focuses on citizenship education, disability and d/Deafness at the Ontario Institution for the Education of the Deaf (OIED), 1870-1914. It employs a critical reading of school related documents, including the school newspaper, The Canadian Mute, to examine how citizenship education evolved at the OIED and contributed to a (re)construction of the d/Deaf citizenship ideal. This (re)construction took place over two distinct periods: 1870 to1906, the “new” d/Deaf citizenship; and, 1907 to 1914, the “spoken” d/Deaf citizenship. During this timeframe, the OIED undertook a deliberate, structured program to rescue the educated d/Deaf student out from under an expansive disability label that characterized “disabled” persons as lazy, immoral, criminal, insane, unintelligent, and financial burdens. Through the OIED’s three pronged education program – d/Deaf pedagogy (teaching communication), academic and vocational curricula – the “good” d/Deaf citizen evolved as an intelligent, active, financially independent person who was cognisant of how her/his d/Deafness reflected on the broader d/Deaf community.