A singularidade da pessoa surda se evidencia por meio da comunicação

The objective of this study was to know more about the life and background of deaf students enrolled in higher education institutions located in the city of São Paulo.Each student presented his report in sign languagethe deaf's natural language.To compose the study material object of this work, four deaf students in private higher education institutions and a deaf professor, who teaches brazilian sign language -Libras in a University in São Paulo, were interviewed.A Libras interpreter took part in the students' interviews.The professor preferred the oral method in order to answer the questions.The questions targeted at five aspects on their life, not necessarily approached in the order presented: family, childhood, school, communication and deafness.The goal was to approach the interviewees' experience in each of the aspects and how each one reports his life experiences.The narratives estate that being deaf in a society composed by a majority of listeners represented a disadvantage at one or more of the approached aspects.The shortage of communication was presented as the main difficulty by all interviewees.The richness of the narratives appears in the means they told their stories and the emphasis on the different approached aspects.The reports' singularity reveals that the deaf can be classified as a distinct social group, not only for their physical condition, which prevents them from hearing, but specially, by the way they are inserted and interact in a mostly common hearing environment, without implying a denial of one's singularity.