Human Right to Language: Communication Access for Deaf Children » (New Edition)

Lawrence Siegel is the Founder and Director of the National Deaf Education Project and a special education attorney in San Francisco, CA.

Siegel proposes that the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution guarantee deaf and hard of hearing children the right to full communication and access in the classroom, and should be enforced.

Pt. 1 Communication and Language

1 Introduction 3

2 The Importance of Communication and Language 14

Pt. 2 The Argument for a Constitutional Right to Communication and Language

3 Communication, Language, and Education 27

4 The First Amendment: The Broad Right to Express and Receive Information and Ideas 44

5 The First Amendment and Freedom of Association 63

6 The Importance of the First Amendment: Protecting the Extremes of Speech 77

7 Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment 93

8 Equal Protection and the Place of Education in American Society 106

9 Equal Protection and the Right to Communication and Language 116

10 The Application of Bilingual-Education Law and Programs to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students 125

Pt. 3 Conclusions and Recommendations

11 A Proposal 147

Index 159