Ideologies of modality encompass the underlying beliefs and values that influence perceptions, uses, and valuations of language modalities such as spoken language, written language, sign language, gestures, and fingerspelling in various social and cultural contexts. This presentation examines how these ideologies shape and are shaped by interactions among deaf, deafblind and hearing sighted people across diverse settings, including family life, educational environments, and customer services. Central to the discussion is the concept of modality hierarchies, which prioritize certain modalities over others.

The experiences of deaf and deafblind people provide an ideal vantage point from which to study these ideologies because for them, modality choices are linked to experiences of sensory differences, combined with their literacies and language knowledges. Based on studies that employed a linguistic ethnography approach, this presentation focuses on ordinary everyday interactions supplemented by interview quotes to illuminate the choices made in these contexts.

Three examples will be discussed to illustrate the relationships between modality choices and ideologies of modality:

The complex decisions of signing deaf parents on whether to use spoken language with their hearing children, because of a tension between natural inclinations to speak and the desire to prevent future communication barriers in the family.

Interactions between a deafblind customer and hearing sellers in Mumbai, highlighting modality choices that range from Braille to embodied finger writing.

The use of International Sign, demonstrating how multimodal adaptations facilitate clearer communication and challenge purist ideologies about International Sign.

Ultimately, these examples show that through the lens of disability, we achieve a nuanced understanding of modality choices and modality ideologies. This focus is crucial not only for deaf and deafblind individuals but also holds significant relevance for hearing, speaking, and sighted people, and for people with other disabilities. This research demonstrates how ideologies of modality influence a wide range of communication practices, thus urging scholars to reconsider and expand their approaches to multimodality and to language ideologies.