Conference Program

Disability Studies (DS) represent a horizon characterized by the interdisciplinarity of research fields engaged in examining paradigms for understanding and interpreting disability and its constructs (Albrecht & Seelman, 2003). Despite the differences among interpretative approaches, their shared premise is the move beyond an individual-medical view in favour of the social model (Oliver, 1996). The educational application of this approach, as expressed by authors associated with Disability Studies in Education (DSE), shifts the focus from individual deficits to barriers imposed by contexts (Barnes & Sheldon, 2007), promoting instructional design based on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework (Rose & Meyer, 2002).

With convergences and divergences, Deaf Studies also move beyond the medical-individual model to investigate the cultural, linguistic, and social dimensions of deafness as a way of being in the world (Ladd, 2003; Bauman & Murray, 2014). This perspective, however, is largely absent from discourses and practices concerning the social and educational inclusion of deaf people. What can Deaf Studies contribute to theories and practices in deaf education, both internationally and nationally? Which aspects of UDL are most relevant for addressing the multicultural, multilingual, and multimodal challenges that frequently characterize the education of deaf students?

How might concepts such as “audism” (Humphries, 1975), “Deafhood” (Ladd, 2003), and “Deaf gain” (Bauman & Murray, 2014) contribute to uncovering inequalities, indirect discrimination, and subtle forms of marginalization that persist within Italian schools?

How might the adoption of Deaf epistemologies, alongside the presence of Deaf academics, serve to mitigate manifestations of mistrust toward the educational experiences of Deaf families with Deaf children, or regarding deaf young people’s access to higher education?

This contribution aims to examine the principal trajectories initiated by international Deaf Studies in education, their intersections with the emerging italian strands of Disability Studies (Goodley et al., 2018), and the most promising UDL guidelines for implementing inclusive instructional design for deaf students in a practical and achievable manner.

Beyond the general inclusive principles of UDL - such as the right to equitable access to contexts and content - this framework is particularly valuable for accessible teaching practices for deaf students, as it provides guidelines for designing and implementing curricula and materials aligned with their learning styles. These range from “Designing Multiple Means of Engagement” (for example, addressing identity and the valorization of different languages and cultures, which is especially relevant for signing Deaf students and/or those from multilingual family contexts), to “Designing Multiple Means of Representation”, which offers essential guidance for producing accessible learning materials, and finally to “Action & Expression”, a principle encouraging all learners to express their ideas and knowledge through multiple means and modalities (including different languages, communicative systems, and codes, ranging from structured sign languages to digital expressive forms) (Baroni & Des Dorides, 2025).