Questions about Deaf culture
- Name, Age, Location, Education/Career
- Do you use American Sign Language (ASL)? Would you consider yourself fluent? Is it your primary mode of communication? How many years have you been signing?
- What is your involvement in the Deaf Community, if any?
- How long have you been involved in the Deaf Community? And in what capacities?
- How connected do you feel to the Deaf Community? Describe this connection and how it has changed/evolved.
- Do you consider yourself part of the “hearing world” or “deaf world”? Both or neither? Why?
Questions about personhood (story)
- Describe a typical day/week in your life.
- What are your favorite hobbies? Activities? Sports?
- Who is your role model and why?
- What are 3 words friends would use to describe you? What are 3 words your family would use to describe you? What are 3 words you would use to describe yourself?
- What something people underestimate about you? Why do you think that is the case?
- If you were to write an autobiography, what would you title it? Why?
Note: Questions that include identifying information will be changed to protect identity. Depending on the interviews involvement in the Deaf community, the second set of questions may be altered to reflect their opinions of the Deaf community. For example, “what something people underestimate about you?” may be rephrased to a Deaf education teacher to say “What something people underestimate about your students? Do you think it is true? How to you and your students respond to that judgment?”
