Thesis title: Down the rabbit hole. The social representations of being deaf in Italy and Canada
This dissertation investigates the social representations of deafness in Italy and Canada, examining how deaf individuals involved in deaf-led organizations negotiate visibility, identity, and access in contexts shaped by institutional, medical, and sociocultural framings. By situating the study within Deaf Studies and drawing on Social Representations Theory, linguistic anthropology, and the framework of epistemic injustice, the research explores the gap between normative discourses and lived experiences of deaf people.
The research adopts a comparative ethnographic design, based on thirty semi-structured interviews, three focus groups, questionnaires, and participant observation, complemented by the analysis of policies and cultural practices. Data were collected between 2023 and 2025 in Italy and Canada. Thematic and dialogical analysis was used to investigate how institutional, medical, and policy-based framings of deafness interact with the perspectives emerging from deaf leaders, associations, and communities.
Findings reveal a persistent tension between hegemonic institutional models - rooted in biomedical and bio-psycho-social paradigms - and the sociocultural perspectives advanced by deaf communities. Deaf leaders and associations mobilize epistemic resistance by reframing accessibility, asserting linguistic rights, and articulating alternative epistemologies. The comparative analysis highlights both shared challenges and national specificities: in Italy, a stronger reliance on legal and medical certification frameworks; in Canada, a greater emphasis on functional and communicative assessments alongside multicultural and Indigenous perspectives.
This work contributes to Deaf Studies and social theory by integrating epistemic injustice into the analysis of social representations, showing how deaf people contest invisibility and reclaim agency. It also offers insights for more inclusive policies that recognize deaf knowledge and identities as legitimate and socially transformative