Sign language ideologies in deaf education in Trinidad and Tobago

This paper, representing a multilingual Global South-Global North deaf research collaboration, reports and critically analyzes findings from interviews with 5 deaf adult and 5 sign language interpreter participants regarding their educational and training experiences in the postcolonial Caribbean environment of Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean sign languages are frequently said to be varieties of American Sign Language (ASL) and/or to have been displaced by ASL in schools with deaf learners. In the anglophone Caribbean context, deaf children have not had access to early childhood care and education in the medium of sign language, and most deaf students arrive at primary school without having acquired a named sign language variety. Moreover, despite a lack of formal standards for interpreter training and evaluation, deaf secondary school students are placed in regular schools with sign language interpreters. Findings from interviews reveal ideologies surrounding named sign language varieties, deaf multilingualism, and interpreter roles within schools, and point to the need for deaf leadership within organizations and institutions providing services to deaf people.