Ethical Practices for Gaining Access for Research with Deaf Communities in South Africa: A Case of South African Sign Language.

Abstract

Research ethics frameworks used in South Africa view Deafness from a biomedical perspective. Unfortunately, this could hinder research access to Deaf communities. Deaf-centric best practices draw from sociocultural perspectives instead. Motivated by this lack of Deaf-centric provisions for research with Deaf communities in the existing legal ethical frameworks in South Africa, this article examines best practices for gaining access to Deaf communities based on a broader study on South African Sign Language place names. The article synthesises ethical guidelines from literature and infuses them with the researchers' own experiences during fieldwork of the broader study to come up with best practices. These include community engagement and collaborative partnerships, seeking ethics clearance; respecting conventions of the Deaf culture, and strategically managing discontent. We conclude that these best practices could form a foundation for a future research ethics framework that considers Deaf-centric practices.