I Got into Higher Education, Now What? Bilingual Literacy of Deaf Students as a Premise for Inclusion in the University.
Bilingual literacy; Deaf education; Inclusion in higher education; Communicational accessibility; Documentary method.
This research aims to discuss the process of inclusion and bilingual literacy of deaf students in higher education. It is a qualitative study that seeks to highlight the life paths of these students and their projections for the future. The documentary method was employed, as it enables dialogue among the subjects themselves. The historical-cultural perspective served as the theoretical foundation, allowing a historical approach to the participants’ experiences, as well as to their processes of language acquisition and development. The research is characterized as qualitative and exploratory in nature, given that it addresses a scarcely investigated topic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four male and three female students, aged between 20 and 30 years, during April and May 2025. The deaf students were enrolled in different undergraduate programs at UFRRJ: Special Education, Mathematics (three participants), Architecture, Computer Science, and Forestry Engineering, all receiving support from the Accessibility and Inclusion Center (NAI). The findings revealed, among other aspects, social markers of the deaf students, as well as different perspectives on their pathways to higher education and their acquisition of academic concepts. It was also possible to identify that the provision of adequate support — such as qualified professionals and an accessible curriculum — fosters linguistic and academic development, as well as educational inclusion.