What Does It Mean To Be Deaf?

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The first forum in Russia devoted to the social, cultural, and linguistic foundations for the functioning of the d/Deaf community in the country and the world.

What does it mean to be deaf or hard of hearing for people today? How does their identity form? What are their possible life trajectories? These and other issues are addressed by the First International Interdisciplinary Conference “What Does It Mean To Be Deaf? New Challenges for the Community, ” held by GES-2 House of Culture and the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research at the Higher School of Economics (HSE).

Deafness is a large and complex topic that goes outside the boundaries of the purely medical or sociological sphere. This is why research into this topic around the world is made into a separate interdisciplinary field, Deaf Studies, which is very relevant today.

It is no accident that the forum is held at GES-2 House of Culture. Throughout most of the twentieth century, the “focal points” for the Russian d/Deaf and hard of hearing community were the houses of culture of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf. For many people, they became a second home: here people participated in creative and handicraft circles and sport groups, found friends and often spouses, learned about the culture of the hearing majority, and developed their own. Over past decades, the activity of houses of culture has declined, but the demand for all of the above things remains—and a response to it was the permanent programme “Deaf and Voiced, ” which GES-2 launched in the autumn of 2022. This programme brings together projects which develop the culture of the Deaf and examine its nature, informs the world about the identity of representatives of this community, and also gives the d/Deaf and hard of hearing the chance to become involved in generally accessible cultural practices.

The conference will be held at GES-2, with the opportunity to take part in individual modules online. We invite researchers of the d/Deaf community and sign language to present papers, as well as specialists on the theory and practice of social integration in Russia and abroad: scientists, consultants, practitioners, students and post-graduate students, representatives of public organisations and business. A collection of articles will be published after the conference, in which all materials will be reviewed anonymously.

Materials will also be presented that were prepared by participants of the group “Researching the Deaf Community.” The group brings together deaf young people aged from 14 to 21, who with the assistance of researchers, educators, historians and sociologists have studied how the identity of members of this community in Russia is formed.

We will be glad if members of the community and their hearing fellow-thinkers take part in the discussions, including parents of deaf and hard of hearing children, hearing children of d/Deaf parents, educators of correctional and inclusive schools, and researchers and specialists on Russian Sign Language and Deaf culture.

Project team

Higher School of Economics

Natalya Baisha
Intern researcher at the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research

Nikita Bolshakov
PhD in sociology, lecturer, deputy head of the sociology department, head scientific associate at the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research. Curator of accessibility and inclusivity programmes at the Cryptography Museum

Maria Kozlova
PhD in sociology, lecturer at the sociology department, senior scientific associate at the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research

Darya Prisyazhnyuk
PhD in sociology, deputy dean of the sociology faculty, senior lecturer at the sociology department, senior scientific associate at the Malakhova International Laboratory for Social Integration Research

Elena Yarskaya-Smirnova
Doctor of sociology, professor of the sociology department, head of the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research

GES-2 House of Culture

Oksana Agapova
Producer

Yulia Apanasenko
School programme educator

Vlad Kolesnikov
Curator of programmes for the d/Deaf community and accessibility for the d/Deaf and hard of hearing

Olga Koroleva
Producer

Serafima Monakhova
Media specialist

Programme

11:00–11:30

Registration of conference participants

11:30–11:45

Opening of the conference

Playhouse

11:45–12:30

Presentation of the study “The sign names of the Deaf in Russia”

Playhouse

Tatyana Losikhina, Timofei Belov, Ilya Zhadan, participants of the group “Researching the Deaf Community, ” GES-2 House of Culture

Moderator

Yulia Apanasenko
Curator of programmes for children and families, GES-2 House of Culture

12:40–14:00

Work in modules and roundtables

The d/Deaf community today: new challenges and opportunities

Playhouse

Where and to what extent do people know Russian Sign Language?

Vladimir Bazoev
PhD in pedagogy, lecture at Moscow State Linguistic University

Russian Sign Language—at the centre of attention. Relevant issues in training deaf specialists

Lyudmila Zhadan
Senior lecturer at Moscow State Pedagogical University

Professional training of interpreters, teachers and researchers of Russian Sign Language: the contribution of Moscow State Linguistic University

Ksenia Golubina
PhD in philology, dean of the English language faculty at Moscow State Linguistic University

Developing the Deaf Skills movement in the Russian Federation

Dmitry Alekseevskikh
PhD in pedagogy, head of department of education and employment of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf

Integration, inclusion, stigmatisation

Valentina Kamneva
Head of the laboratory of Russian Sign Language at Russian State Social University

The d/Deaf community in the USA and Russia: difference and similarity

Kenneth Alan Gaulsto
Expert at the Training centre of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf

Moderator

Viktor Palenny
PhD in pedagogy, editor of the journal of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf “V yedinom stroyu” (“In United Formation”)

Education for the d/Deaf and Sign Language: transformation of ideology and practices

Classes

Russian Sign Language in the space of the modern inclusive school

Irina Solovieva
PhD in pedagogy, lecturer at the speech therapy department at the institute of special education and psychology at Moscow City Pedagogical University

Pantomime lessons as a means for developing physical abilities of d/Deaf children

Maria Kurnikova
Doctor of sociology, PhD in medicine, head of the department of adaptive physical culture at Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod

Linguistic neglect among d/Deaf children in the pre-school age

Ekaterina Savchenko
Teacher of Russian Sign Language at the Training centre of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, expert on early development of d/Deaf and hard of hearing children

Digital resources as a means of supporting d/Deaf and hard of hearing students

Vyacheslav Lipatov
PhD in pedagogy, lecturer at the department of economic theory at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation

Sign Language in education, digestibility of material for students

Anastasia Moskvicheva
Teacher of professional disciplines at Small Business College № 4

Electronic course for studying Russian Sign Language for volunteer university and school students

Olga Belyaeva
PhD in pedagogy, lecturer at the department of correctional pedagogy at Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University

Moderator

Ekaterina Savchenko
Teacher of Russian Sign Language at the Training centre of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, expert on early development of d/Deaf and hard of hearing children

Back translation from Russian Sign Language into Russian: the new professional standard and competencies of the interpreter. Roundtable*

Classes

Participants

Irina Ginzberg
Lecturer, Sign Language interpreter at Moscow pedagogical state university

Olga Varinova
Head of laboratory of Russian Sign Language at the Institute of social technologies of the Novosibirsk State Technical University

Yulia Krygina
Director at the qualification assessment centre on the professional standard of “Interpreter of Russian Sign Language”

Elena Soloveichik
Director at the Training centre of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf

Alexander Bochkov
Chairman of the Moscow city organization of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf

Moderator

Vlad Kolesnikov
Curator of programmes for the d/Deaf community and accessibility for the d/Deaf and hard of hearing, educator of ongoing education at Special (correctional) general education boarding school № 52

14:00–15:15

Lunch break

15:30–16:15

Presentation of the study “Sign Language in online communication by the d/Deaf”

Playhouse

Makar Makarkin, Varvara Merenkova, Natalia Yaroslavkina, participants of the group “Researching the Deaf Community”

Moderator

16:25–17:50

Work in modules and roundtables

Representation of the d/Deaf in culture and the media sphere. Roundtable

Playhouse

Representation of the image of the d/Deaf in the literature of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries

Polina Sineva
Scriptwriter

The image of the d/Deaf person in Russian online media texts

Yulia Shamsutdinova
PhD in philology, senior lecturer at Moscow Lomonosov State University, journalism faculty

“The country of the d/Deaf” in Russian and foreign cinematography: dynamics of the image of the film character with hearing disabilities

Nadia Tyurina
PhD in pedagogy, lecturer at the Institute of special education and psychology at Moscow City Pedagogical University

Moderator

Elena Yarskaya-Smirnova
Doctor of sociology, professor of the sociology department, head of the HSE International Laboratory for Social Integration Research

The role of deafness in the self-definition of community members*

Classes

The parental community as a resource for developing an inclusive culture of society

Ekaterina Averina
Senior lecturer at Tomsk National Research State University

Social identity and professional choice of adult CODA (Children of Deaf Adults)

Maria Malofeeva
Student at the HSE social sciences faculty

Philosophical aspects of cognitive-linguistic analysis of the process of professional adaptation of a d/Deaf person

Lyubov Nagornaya
PhD in philosophy, lecturer at the philosophy department of the Humanities Institute of the Siberian Federal University

Nikolai Nagorny
PhD in philosophy, lecturer at the department of tactical special training at the Siberian Law Institute of the Russian Interior Ministry

Problems of interaction of the d/Deaf, hard of hearing and hearing students in the educational and social space

Inna Zhdanova
PhD in philosophy, lecturer at the department of social work and social anthropology at the Institute of Social technologies of Novosibirsk State Technical University

Alexander Shets
Student at the Institute of Social technologies of Novosibirsk State Technical University

Results of a survey of the d/Deaf and hard of hearing as part of a socio-cultural analysis of the Deaf community

Olga Varinova
Head of the laboratory of Russian Sign Language at the Institute of Social technologies of Novosibirsk State Technical University

Moderator

Sign Language and modern approaches to linguistic research of the d/Deaf*

Classes

About Sign Language again

Evgeny Mazaev
Graduate student of the department of deaf education and inclusive education at Moscow Pedagogical State University

Social aspects of researching the language of the d/Deaf: modern approaches and an understanding of the norm

Valeria Vinogradova
PhD, researcher at University College London

Valeria Dushkina
Invited lecturer at the HSE School of Linguistics

Echo-phonology in Russian Sign Language

Tatyana Losikhina
Student of the faculty of English at Moscow State Linguistic University

The non-manual component of the “protruding tongue tip” in Russian Sign Language

Elizaveta Zhidkova
Student at the humanities faculty of Novosibirsk State Technical University

Contact phenomena in written Russian among users of Russian Sign Language

Anastasia Dobrynina
Student at the humanities faculty of the HSE School of Linguistics

Moderator

Darya Semenova
Director of the Zaitseva Centre of education of the d/Deaf and Sign Language

17:50–18:20

Coffee break, networking

Canteen

18:30–19:15

Presentation of the study “Socio-cultural profile of members of the elite of the d/Deaf community”

Playhouse

Anna Grigorian, Varvara Dzyuba, Danila Chetverikov, Nika Chupyatova, members of the group “Researching the Deaf Community”

Moderator

19:15–19:30

Closing of the conference

Playhouse

20:00–20:30

Performance by L2 dance group

Playhouse

Sign language interpreter
Accessible to deaf and hard of hearing visitors