About

In January 2016 a Spanish website was launched to show how Deaf people and Sign Language are changing the world. After 3 years and more than 12,000 followers, an English version is launched here.

Unusualverse is an independent web initiative basis on the concept of Deaf Gain, a concept coined by H-Dirksen Bauman and Joseph Murray, academics at Gallaudet University, to oppose the concept of "hearing loss," an idea that contains in itself a negative meaning, something you don't have, something you've lost: hearing.

Bauman and Murray have described Deaf Gain as follows:

Deaf Gain is defined as a reframing of “deaf” as a form of sensory and cognitive diversity that has the potential to contribute to the greater good of humanity.

Deaf people are often seen as recipients of aid, recipients of charity, in need of assistance. The problems, the hardships, the barriers are those of deaf people. Sign Language is only an alternative to oral language. Opposite to this vision, there is more and more research and evidence showing how Sign Languages contribute in many different ways to the richness and development of all societies and human groups. Two of the most significant fields in which this positive contribution can be observed are in the arts and sciences.

In the following video we can see a detailed presentation on the concept of Deaf Gain by Joseph Murray himself as he was in Spain for the holding of the "Conference on our Deaf identity" hosted by the CNSE in 2012.

What is NOT Unusualverse?

• No business: Unusualverse is not a company nor does it have a profit purpose, nor does it even pursue advertising income.
• No NGO: Unusualverse has no affiliation with any NGO nor is it established as such. It is an independent initiative born of the hope.
• No tabloid: Unusualverse is not a news agency nor does it look for tabloidism. It provides factual information and a positive view of reality.

Unusualverse do not receive grant or advertising income. If you like Unusualverse, please support it by sharing the website in your social media or contribute to its development (more information here).

Why Unusualverse?

Unusualverse is the combination of two words, unusual and universe. Unusual means that it is not ordinary and this is exactly what this website wants to spread: that the Deaf and Sign Languages are anything but ordinary.

So, Unusualverse has been created to gather the most outstanding contributions of Sign Languages and the Deaf in arts, culture, communication and science, in the way that all information can be found in a single site.

If you have any contribution, you can send an email to: contact@unusualverse.com

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References:

• Bauman, H. D., & Murray, J. (2009). "Reframing: From hearing loss to deaf gain". En: Deaf Studies Digital Journal, 1(1). Retrieved from http://dsdj.gallaudet.edu/assets/section/section2/entry19/DSDJ_entry19.pdf
• Bauman, H. D. L., & Murray, J. J. (2010). 14 Deaf Studies in the 21st Century:“Deaf-gain” and the Future of. In The Oxford handbook of deaf studies, language, and education, 2, 210. Retrieved from http://ieas-szeged.hu/downtherabbithole/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Lennard-J.-Davis-ed.-The-Disability-Studies-Reader-Routledge-2014.pdf#page=253
• Bauman, H. D. L., & Murray, J. J. (2014). Deaf Gain: Raising the Stakes for Human Diversity. University of Minnsesota Press.