DEAF rights to language, expression, literacy and education have been marginalised throughout history. And signed languages have taken second place to spoken languages. The 1880 Milan Convention, for example, gave rise to a period when deaf children were forced to use oral language at school. EMMA ASONYE, Speech and Hearing Scientist, University of New Mexico The passing of the convention amounted to a global attack on the linguistic rights of deaf people. The convention passed a resolution that deaf children (and students) should be mandated to ‘speak’ and learn through oral methods. And that the use of signed language in…