Until relatively recently, deafness was  seen as simply a physical impairment: the absence of hearing  (Butler, Skelton & Valentine, 2001; Lane, 1997). In the past, much discrimination against Deaf people was based on the assumption that they were in fact people without language  (Davis, 2007). This approach  ignored the fact that deafness is an unique kind of disability. There is a Deaf-World, a relatively small group of visual people ( Padden & Humphries, 1988) who use a natural visual-gestural language. Children and adults who cannot hear are isolated from the mainstream because communication with hearing individuals will always be laborious (Butler, Skelton & Valentine, 2001; Dolnick, 1993; Fletcher, 1988; Foster, 1988; Marschark, 1993; Padden & Humphries, 1988; Wilcox, 1989).

The mentioned characteristics of Deaf people underline  the crucial importance of identity within inclusive educational strategies, particularly in  the case of learners with special cultural and communicational needs. Current discussions in the area of inclusive education stress the necessity for schools to develop equitable responses to diversity if all students are to be active and participating learners (Clark et al. 1995; Booth et al. 2000; Black-Hawkins, 2002; Florian, 2005; Humphrey et al. 2006). Appreciation of diversity moves learning communities away from the notion of normalization, which promotes ‘sameness’, and views difference as a negative attribute (Florian, 2005). The teaching strategies employed in schools must not become barriers to participation for learners with different needs by isolating and stigmatizing them (Sapon-Shevin et al. 1994).

The situation of Deaf learners  born to minority ethno-cultural communities is particularly complex in this regard, as they are subjected to social marginality and exclusion not only as Deaf but also due to their ethno-linguistic belonging. In this way their situation cumulates a multiplicity of disadvantaging factors. Identity  may be threatened by discrimination equally within the ethnic minority community and within the Deaf community. In every context educating for bilingualism or multilingualism must confront issues of personal and group identity. In the context of work with children who are born from ethnic minority families and are  Deaf these issues are presented in an exceptionally complex and challenging form (Cline, 1997).

 Based on the results of a research conducted among ethnic Hungarian Deaf  individuals in Oradea (a historically multicultural city located in Western Romania) this paper discusses  the opportunities to use  identity as a fundamental resource in a specific  context linked to a particular type of  minority situation. The central objective of the research is to find out the effects of the influencing factors and conditions which have an important impact on the process of educational inclusion and identity development of ethnic minority Hungarian Deaf  learners. The main research questions address the following aspects of the research problem:

1. What are the factors which influence the decision of parents concerning the language(s) of education for their Deaf children? What is the role of family language use and of early linguistic development  in shaping these options?

2. In what context and at which point in their life are ethnic minority Deaf children becoming familiar with sign language(s)? What is the role of formal and  informal school environments in this process ? How the  knowledge and use of Hungarian/and or Romanian versions of sign language by Deaf learners of Hungarian ethnic family background  relate to their knowledge and use of Hungarian and/or Romanian oral languages?

3. What kind of linguistic options are available for ethnic Hungarian minority Deaf learners at different stages of education and what are the consequences of their school years for their linguistic socialization and identity development at adult age?

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