Emergence of Deaf Awareness and its goals
In the US in the 1960s, various minorities and groups began to demand equal rights. As the understanding of cultural diversity broadened at the same time, attitudes towards sign language became more positive. The Deaf Pride (or Deaf Awareness) movement was founded in autumn 1972. The roots of the movement are often thought to be in the work of Barbara Kannapell, a sign language teacher and later researcher at Gallaudet College, who began to bring together deaf people, parents of deaf children and people who worked with the deaf community. The goal of the movement was to improve self-esteem among deaf people, encourage people to use sign language and teach deaf culture. In Finland, the movement became known as the Deaf Awareness movement.
It can also be said that the Deaf Awareness movement has its roots within the international deaf community. For decades, deaf people had understood that they had their own culture because they had succeeded in maintaining their own language throughout the reign of oralism. As the attitudes of the hearing majority gradually changed, deaf people had more opportunities for developing their language and culture and promoting equality.
The Deaf Awareness movement also wanted to make it possible for deaf people to develop their knowledge of their identity. Therefore, the central ideas of the Deaf Awareness movement were that deaf people should learn to demand equal treatment and to develop into individuals who had a positive self-image and identity.