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Oliver Sacks and “Seeing Voices”

By H Dominic W Stiles, on 18 September 2015

This week’s post is by Edmund Lyonseeing voices

Oliver Sacks, who died recently, was perhaps most familiar to the public as the author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat. However, among his other books was Seeing Voices: A Journey Into The World Of The Deaf, a fact which was only mentioned in one or two of the obituaries which have appeared. Seeing Voices is a fascinating triptych, its three parts combining to give insights not only into deaf history and deaf communication – including the Oralist / signing controversy – but also into deaf culture and deaf activism: the book culminates in a description and analysis of the deaf students’ uprising at Gallaudet University in March 1988 (details of this appear on the Gallaudet website).

Sacks’ exploration of deafness is sensitive and revealing, making Seeing Voices a good starting point for any exploration of the world of the deaf. Although it focuses on deaf people in the United States, the themes Sacks teases out are relevant to the United Kingdom too – and can be pursued through the books we hold in the Action on Hearing Loss Library.

Seeing Voices was published 26 years ago this month, in September 1989, and remains in print. sacks

 

One Response to “Oliver Sacks and “Seeing Voices””

  • 1
    Jean Straus wrote on 6 December 2015:

    My review of this book is now in the Winter 2015/16 issue of the Action on Hearing Loss Magazine. Send me an email address, and I’ll send you a pdf of it if you’re interested.