Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
MILLI FOLKLOR, sa.143, ss.5-15, 2024 (AHCI)
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, introduced at the beginning of the 21st century, brought significant regulations ensuring the full and active participation of disabled persons, recognizing their individual and cultural characteristics, and accepting fundamental communication tools such as Braille for the blind and sign language for the Deaf and hard of hearing. T & uuml;rkiye signed this convention on March 30, 2007, and it came into force on May 3, 2008. Following these regulations, the declaration of 2020 as the "Year of Accessibility" accelerated academic research and studies in this field. Unlike other disabled groups, the Deaf community, proud of their deafness and shaped by their use of sign languages, is characterized as local subcultures within the hearing society. Numerous studies on the Deaf community have revealed the existence of a transnational Deaf culture and world through shared experiences and similarities in the structures of sign languages. The Deaf community in T & uuml;rkiye, acting in solidarity within federations and associations for the Deaf and hard of hearing across all regions of T & uuml;rkiye, exhibits a rich subculture with national and international activities such as theater and film and trains licensed athletes. This study aims to shed light on the roots of the culture of the Turkish Deaf community through historical data from a socio-cultural approach that considers deafness in terms of identity and community belonging. Examining the cultural characteristics of this community and their identities is crucial to understanding the current cultural structure of the Turkish Deaf community. Information about Turkish Deaf culture before the Ottoman era is almost nonexistent. The first traces of this culture are found in D & icirc;v & acirc;nu Lug & acirc;ti't-T & uuml;rk and Kutadgu Bilig. More detailed information is obtained from sources discussing the lives of Deaf officials employed in the palace of the Ottoman Empire. This study aims to reveal the roots of Turkish Deaf culture in the historical process, starting from the Ottoman period, through data obtained from local and foreign historical sources. Based on this data, the significant and privileged roles of Deaf and hard of hearing people, especially in the palace, their lifestyles, clothing, fondness for art and literature, identities, and societal roles will be examined. This study is also significant for the Turkish Deaf community to understand their cultural roots and shared values. It is recommended that this present study be accessible through sign language interpreting and subtitles within visual content to ensure accessibility.