The philosophy of difference and bodily dissidences: language, education, and deaf/deafblind existence

Abstract

The article discusses the contributions of the Philosophy of Difference—especially in Deleuze and Guattari—to rethinking the notions of language, body, and education in the context of Deaf and Deafblind people. Grounded in a post-structuralist perspective and in Deaf Studies, the study articulates concepts from the ontology of difference, Foucauldian genealogies, and decolonial epistemologies to question the regimes of normalization that sustain ableism and structural audism. The research understands difference not as a lack, but as a creative force and a potency of existence. From this theoretical approach, deafness and deafblindness are interpreted as unique modes of experience and meaning-making, not as deficiencies to be corrected. Methodologically, the work adopts a qualitative, interpretive, and critical approach, based on the discursive and philosophical analysis of theoretical texts, educational policies, and cultural narratives about disability, language, and education. The methodological path involves reading and interpreting discourses that construct difference as deviation and those that affirm it as invention, highlighting the role of language—especially Libras and Tactile Libras—as spaces of resistance and the creation of new modes of existence. It concludes that the Philosophy of Difference offers a powerful path toward an education that recognizes the multiplicity of bodies and languages as an ethical, political, and epistemic principle.