A small group of interpreters was interviewed with regard to their view of learning ASL and becoming bicultural. A model of identity was then postulated based on Hegel's dialectic (Wheat 2012) of thesis (presuppositions, stereotypes, or theories about ASL and the Deaf community), antithesis (conflicting experiences), and synthesis (new…

Argues that deaf individuals who sign and use the majority language regularly (in written form, for example) are bilingual and, because they must adapt to both the hearing and deaf worlds, are also bicultural. Implications for the bilingual and bicultural education of deaf children are discussed. (17 references) (JL)

Studies the attitudes toward deaf society of two new deaf Gallaudet students who had been raised in an "oralist" tradition with biases against deaf culture. Their attitudes are compared with those of a deaf graduate oralist who had become acculturated into the deaf community. (PJM)