Sign Language and Deaf Students in Higher Education in Brazil: A Study of Academic Concepts

In this text are presented and discussed some aspects of the inclusion process for deaf students in higher education in Brazil, as well as some accessibility policies. Then a study will be reported on towards the creation of new signs for the Brazilian Sign Language and aiming at the translation of academic concepts for deaf students. This was a participatory qualitative research, developed at a university in the state of Minas Gerais Brazil, and had the participation and support of 23 deaf students, some translators, linguists and other professionals. The focus of the study was the negotiation of concepts of Philosophy, considered “more abstract” or intelligible, and a possible visual/signed representation of them. In addition to the knowledge production of the group, the research also resulted in the development of an electronic dictionary of Philosophy in Brazilian Sign Language.