Technical notes

I have tried to minimise the use of intrusive quote marks. It should therefore be remembered that the language used in this chronology often reflects the phrasing of an original announcement or review rather than current modern practice. I have tended to retain such phrasing because it gives a flavour of the ethos of a particular organisation or event at a particular time.

Similarly, I have, as far as possible, respected the convention that the capitalised term Deaf refers to sign language users, who see themselves as primarily part of a linguistic community, whereas the lowercase deaf refers to any people with hearing loss, but have often retained descriptions of events that do not employ this usage.

A significant role in disability arts has been played by certain aspects of Deaf arts, such as sign song, and Deaf performers such as Dorothy Miles and Caroline Parker, and I have tried to document that. But this chronology does not attempt to provide complete coverage of Deaf arts. That would need to be done by a Deaf researcher with considerably better knowledge of the area than I possess.

Where possible, I have cross-checked announcements with subsequent reviews, features and news reports. Nevertheless, it remains the case that this chronology relies heavily on unconfirmed announcements. It is inevitable that there will sometimes have been last-minute changes, and that some of the information given here is inaccurate. I would welcome corrections.