Introduction
Introduction I was asked if I could fill in for a term at a school for deaf children, teaching art and design for grades 4 – 10. My only prior teaching experience at school level has been at a high school teaching visual art and design to grade 11 and 12. This was uncharted territory. The school is religious, and small, just over 200 learners ranging from preschool to matric. It is a signing school. Students to not speak. Some learners have added different/dis/mixed/abilities, and there is a stream for those who do not fit into the national academic curriculum. The staff are warm, friendly and inviting. There is a startling transparency in the school, which allows things to come out into the open and be addressed in an open, honest and supportive way. I had never really considered deaf/ness before, nor the deaf community, even though I worked with a deaf colleague the whole of last year! I found that deaf people possess, especially those that sign, a disarming directn...
