Introduction

We live in a democratic society in which all of us should have the right to be politically active in various ways. But is this really true? Historically, it has been demonstrated that not all Americans have had equal opportunities to participate in the political process. Deaf people are one of the several minority groups who have experienced a sense of oppression and feeling of futility in changing their lives. In other words, many deaf people feel a sense of “civic disenfranchisement” (Verlinde, 1987, p. 97). They feel that they have little voice in the decision-making processes that would determine their political, social, and economic futures. Some feel victimized by the larger hearing society. As Higgins (1980) states in his study, many deaf adults feel that they are “outsiders in the hearing world.”

It is a widely accepted view that an important way for people to feel a part of the decision-making process of the government is by voting. As Gaventa (1980) has noted, in a democracy, voting in elections is a principal means by which the deprived public may act upon its concerns, since candidates chosen as representatives are mandated by the electorate to act upon their interests.