The History of Deaf Youth Through the Ages.

The DHI 2025 theme explores the experiences, contributions, and challenges faced by Deaf youth throughout history. It highlights how their lives, education, culture, and societal roles have evolved across different time periods and regions. By focusing on Deaf youth, the DHI 2025 event aims to inspire future generations, celebrate their resilience, and emphasize the importance of their role in shaping the Deaf community’s past, present, and future.

Proposals can be made for presentations, posters, a workshop or film screenings. Proposals can be submitted in signed or written formats. Send all proposals, any questions, or additional ideas for proposal types to info@dhi2025.com.

Please note that the event will provide interpreting for International Sign (IS; including Pro-Tactile IS), Vlaamse Gebarentaal (VGT), Langue des Signes de Belgique Francophone (LSFB) and written/spoken English only.  Interpreting services for any other languages will need to be arranged by presenters themselves.

Presentations, workshops, posters and film should align with either the theme (Deaf youth in history) or with the wider field of Deaf history (including Deaf culture and identity). We welcome a wide range of topics, including but not limited to the following:

Event theme-related topics

• Deaf people and social movements:How have Deaf individuals, including youth, contributed to social justice, equality, and rights movements?
• Historic Deaf leaders: Stories of inspiring young Deaf individuals who have shaped history.
• Sign language through the ages: The development, documentation, and preservation of sign languages over time.
• Youth in Deaf sports: Deaf athletics’ impact on identity, community, and cultural exchange.
• Deaf youth and the arts: How young Deaf people have made their mark in film, theater, music, and other artistic expressions.
• Deaf clubs and social gatherings: Their historical and current significance for Deaf youth and community building.
• Cultural heritage preservation: How Deaf youth contribute to preserving and promoting Deaf cultural heritage.
• Challenges and triumphs: Deaf youth’s personal stories across generations and countries.
• Generational perspectives: How experiences differ between younger and older generations in the Deaf community.
• Technology and deaf youth: The transformative impact on Deaf youth from recent technologies such as video chat, video and text-based social media, text telephones, artificial intelligence, and cochlear implants.
• Media Representation: How films and television series have portrayed young Deaf people through the years.
• Deaf youth as advocacy:Deaf youth breaking barriers and strengthening communities.
• Youth leadership in Deaf organizations: How Deaf youth shape the future of Deaf organizations.

Wider field of Deaf history-related topics

• Research on Deaf history: Share your latest findings, innovative methodologies, and insights into the study of Deaf history.
• Museums and accessibility: Discuss Deaf-focused museums, museum guides, and how Deaf history is archived and shared with communities.
• Diversity and global perspectives: Presentations reflecting the diversity of Deaf histories and lived experiences from different countries and cultures are highly encouraged.

Topics not among the examples listed above are welcome and encouraged to be submitted.  We are particularly interested in new and unique contributions that broaden our understanding of Deaf history and its connection to contemporary issues.

Send your film and the following information to info@dhi2025.com:  

• Film title and short description (200 words or less) in English, Dutch or French
• Name(s), position(s), and affiliations of all filmmakers
• Contact details for main contact person
• If different from the above, name and contact details for the person(s) attending the event to represent your film at the film screening
• Which language(s) your film is in
• An unlocked download weblink that transfers a copy of your film via a major file transfer service (ie: Google Drive, WeTransfer, etc.) or a YouTube or Vimeo weblink to your film

Presentation, workshop, poster, and film proposal submission deadline: April 15, 2025 

Acceptance/rejection notifications to all proposals: May 2025
Presenters whose proposals have been accepted must register for the event. Presenters’ registrations will be allowed at the Early Bird Rate. 

PowerPoints, final film versions, and other supporting notes: July 2025
PowerPoint files, final film versions, and any other supporting notes for your poster showing or film screening discussion must be sent by this date for event organizers and interpreters’ preparation. If no such files have been received by this date, the organisers reserve the right to cancel your presentation, poster showing, or film screening.

Signed papers for video event proceedings: September 2025
Presentations will be video recorded at the event for inclusion in the signed/video event proceedings. Presenters have the option of submitting a self-filmed video to be published instead of their event-recorded presentation. All self-filmed videos must be submitted by the deadline, otherwise event-recorded videos will be used. 

Written papers for published event proceedings: September 2025
Any papers received after this date may not be included in the proceedings.  

Consent form notice: Participants making a presentation or presenting a poster or film will be required to sign a consent form to cover their contribution to the event and to permit themselves to be filmed and/or photographed. This gives DHI and the DHI 2025 Organizing Committee the ability to place participants’ contributions into the DHI Conference Archives and have participants’ contributions available for editing and inclusion in the DHI 2025 event proceedings and for future distribution via TV, Internet, social media, the DHI newsletter, or other media. Participants still retain their right to publish or disseminate their event contributions elsewhere. This cooperation is important to preserve and widely disseminate Deaf history research.