Políticas lingüísticas para libras: considerações de uma professora surda

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to analyze the policy that guides the Municipal Law no. 12.213 from 23rd June, 2015 and the Political Pedagogical Project (PPP) of the Municipal Bilingual School for Deaf Students Geny de Jesus Souza Ribas concerning the (non) defense of bilingual education based on my perspective as a deaf teacher. Being a deaf post-lingual person and being able to act in inclusive educational spaces allowed me to experience the difficulties both as a student and a teacher of students who did not feel satisfated or happy influenced my point of view and formed my questioning opinion about inclusive education. This inclusion has not been done adequately, as it does not consider the linguistic and cultural difference in relation to Libras, as well as the concern with the bilingual methodological aspect to be adopted for the teaching of Portuguese as second language (L2). According to Góes (2012, p. 63), in regular schools the access to contents takes place in a bimodal form. In order to have a better understanding of the path taken on the light of studies about linguistic policies, Deaf Studies (SKLIAR, 1998) and Educational Policies, it is paramount to review the role of the laws and their impact on the Brazilian educational system. Initially, the study describes the history of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras, in the Portuguese acronym) in Brazil based on readings; next important aspects found during the research are discussed. This “personal or professional experience of studies and readings” (LAKATOS; MARCONI, 1992, p. 45) from 2006 until the end 2018, when the Education for Deaf Students and Libras were constituted from discourses (STURMER, 2016) and struggles for a form of education that includes linguistic diversity. Nevertheless, the practice in regular schools under the title of Inclusive Education does not guarantee the access to Libras as a language of instruction, but as an instrument of teaching to facilitate the understanding of contents. According to the document analyzed, teachers’ continuing education and visual resources with the aid of technology are negative factors in inclusive practices. Therefore, it is imperative to reconsider these pratices that require a plan of action that includes linguistics policies and the respect to human linguistic and cultural rights (SKUTNABB-KANGAS, 1994) taking into consideration the bilingual context of deaf children (QUADROS, 2006). Bimodal practices, undprepared teachers and the lack of knowledge about deaf culture are challenges for the implementation of Bilingual Education. It is necessary that both tegular and bilingual schools for deaf students to be spaces that respect what is proposed by the law, because in order to Libras to become a compulsory discipline, the cultural and linguistic context of the deaf community should the present in the educational spaces.