The main connections with topics from previous chapters
are the involvement of children (Chapter 3) and
Questions 2, 3 and 4 lead the discussion towards these
questions through the analysis of the disabled committee
member’s objections. Question 2 focuses on
the more methodological aspects of the tension. The
issue is whether the tools and methods used by the
researchers to measure ‘normal’ development presuppose
the second view of what it is to be deaf. It might
be that in order to make this judgement more information
would be needed about the criteria used by
the researchers, but even with this information the
committee might need to consider issues about the
nature of deafness, and more generally disability, in
order to assess the significance of this for the value of
the research. Question 3 focuses more on the overtly
political aspect of the disabled committee member’s
objections. To what extent, for instance, is it appropriate
to think of the researchers’ project as something
approaching ‘cultural paternalism’ or ‘imperialism’?
These political issues tie closely to the social model of
disability. In relation to both questions it may be
claimed that the values underpinning the researchers’
criteria for ‘success’ in child development are not
shared by the Deaf community and so the criteria