Meeting Global Deaf Peers, Visiting Ideal Deaf Places ... - NCRTM

DEAF WAYS OF EDUCATION LEADING TO EMPOWERMENT
of change such as Deaf President Now.
Widell (2000) explored the emergence
of deaf empowerment in Denmark by
examining “the dynamics between the
education system, the labor market,
and deaf culture” (p. 26). For my research
project, I examined deaf empowerment
in Flanders, the northern
half of Belgium, through the collection
of life stories of Flemish deaf leaders.
This case study is being linked with an
exploratory case study (Stebbins, 2001;
Yin, 1994) at Gallaudet University of
deaf empowerment as exemplified
in the lives of international deaf role
models.
Research on deaf life stories reveals
turning points in deaf people’s lives
when they learned about deaf cultural
rhetoric—mostly highlighting transformations
when these people moved
from an oral environment to a signing
and deaf cultural environment.
Amparo Minguet Soto (2003), for
example, uses the metaphor of “Deaf
awakening” in her life story to give
meaning to the turning point in her
life after coming into contact with sign
language, deaf culture, and (international)
deaf leaders. She connects this
experience with the metaphorical
transition from darkness to light that
is often used to describe deaf people’s
entering the deaf community and
learning sign language (Padden &
Humphries, 1988). Soto does not reveal
whether this experience is expressed
by a sign that refers to a
shared deaf experience in her community,
like the WAKE-UP sign in my
research (see below, “Waking Up and
the Circle of Deaf Empowerment”).
Although changes in deaf people
who grew up in a deaf cultural environment
have been sporadically examined
(Breivik, 2005; Ladd, 2003;
List, 2003; Taylor & Darby, 2003), the
phenomenon of deaf empowerment
and its rhetoric have never been examined
through ethnographic life-
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story research in a group of people
who have assumed leadership roles in
a local deaf community. Also, though
“there is no guarantee that a particular
discourse or form of knowledge
will lead to emancipatory practices”
(Foucault, 1984, cited in Roets et al.,
2005, p. 47), narrative research with
survivors can indicate keys to the success
of life paths (Roets et al., 2005).
The analysis of Flemish deaf narratives
in the present article leads to the
hypothesis that visits to barrier-free
deaf environments (Jankowski, 1997)
such as Gallaudet University (United
States), the Centre for Deaf Studies in
Bristol (United Kingdom), and deaf
associations in the Nordic countries
are transformative for deaf people.
The universal nature of sign language
(Mottez, 1993) and the common
transnational experiences of deaf people
as a “visual minority in an auditory
world” (Murray, in press) create the
conditions for an alternative deaf education
or education in the deaf way.
Only 20% of all deaf people in the
world have the opportunity to go to
school (Wilson, 2005), and consequently
to gain deaf awareness and
knowledge about sign language. In
the world, and especially in developing
countries, there is a “lack of respect
for and understanding of Deaf
Culture and sign language (Lane, 1992;
Lemmo, 2003)” (Wilson, 2005, p. 293).
The goal of the present article is to
sketch alternative opportunities for
deaf students all over the world to
come into contact with deaf cultural
rhetoric and experience barrier-free
deaf environments (Jankowski, 1997)
and to create the conditions to
achieve their civil, political, social, and
economic rights (Harris & Enfield,
2003; Ladd, 2003).
Since 1993, Belgium has been a
federalized monarchy comprising two
states: Flanders in the north and Wallonia
in the south. The official spoken
languages of Flanders and Wallonia
are, respectively, Dutch (Flemish) and
French. The differences between
Flemish and Dutch can be compared
to the differences between British and
American English. In eastern Belgium
there is also a small German-speaking
jurisdiction (Van Herreweghe, 2002).
A first (unrepresentative) demographic
research study suggests that
about 4,500 deaf signers use Flemish
Sign Language, Vlaamse Gebarentaal
(VGT; Loots et al., 2003). Only recently,
on April 26, 2006, the Flemish parliament
recognized VGT as the “first or
preferred language of the Deaf community
in Flanders” (Heyerick, 2006).
Deaf people in the southern part of
Belgium use Belgian-French Sign Language
(Langue des Signes de Belgique
Francophone, LSFB), which was officially
recognized in 2003 (Timmermans,
2005). Although the spoken
languages in Flanders and the Netherlands,
on the one hand, and in Wallonia
and France, on the other, are
similar, VGT differs from NGT (Nederlandse
Gebarentaal, Sign Language
of the Netherlands), and LSFB is different
from LSF (Langue des Signes
Françaises, French Sign Language).
Since the national deaf federation
Navekados divided in the 1970s, the
Flemish deaf community has been
represented by Fevlado (Federatie
van Vlaamse Dovenorganisaties—
Federation of Flemish Deaf Organizations);
the Walloon deaf community
has its own national federation, FSSB
(Fédération Francophone des Sourds
de Belgique—French Federation of
Belgian Deaf). Because the Flemish
and Walloon deaf federations are
funded by their own sources and have
their own agendas, Flemish and Walloon
deaf people meet and interact
less than before the split of the national
deaf federation, and Flemish
Sign Language and Walloon Sign Language
continue to “develop separately
VOLUME 152, NO. 1, 2007 AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE DEAF