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I am a hearing neuropsychologist who has been connected to the field of deafness for over 30 years. My interest in neuropsychology, my main professional identification for more than 15 years, arose from my interest in deafness. Before interest and involvement in working with individuals and families, I studied languages, French most intensely, and I studied in France over two extended periods of time. It is this context which I bring to Brueggemann's book. I mention this as culture is such a central focus of her work, as the reader learns from nearly the very first pages. I also mention this as reading this book reminded me of reading books in French, a task which I found difficult at the beginning of most books and then easier the more I read.
As the title describes, this is a book about deafness. It is a book about deaf culture and deaf history. In short, it is a book about deaf identity and identities and conflicts. It is not a book overtly geared to a mental health audience. It does not teach basic psychoanalytic principles or psychotherapeutic techniques or present research on test results used for differential diagnosis (I am a neuropsychologist, after all). But there is much to learn from this book for individuals who are evaluating and treating.
Brueggemann opens the book by introducing herself to the reader. We learn that the author is a deaf woman who is a Professor of English and Disability Studies at The Ohio State University. Her academic position is one she describes multiple times and in several chapters and it is noted on the back cover of the book as well. She shares her early history including some of the emotional struggles associated with her deafness. She introduces a theory of “betweenity” (p. 4). Overtly, betweenity appears to be the belonging in various groups, in this case for deaf individuals, groups, such as “disabled” and “deaf”. The presentation of betweenity is elaborated with a discussion of “deaf” and “Deaf”. While Brueggemann works to