Debating Futures in Flemish Deaf Parliament: Deaf Epistemologies, Participatory Citizenship, and Sustainable Development
- Debating Futures in Flemish Deaf Parliament: Deaf Epistemologies, Participatory Citizenship, and Sustainable Development
More than 350 deaf/sign language community members gathered at six local deaf clubs in Flanders in 2014 to share perspectives about the future and formulate proposals for policymaking. This initiative, Flemish Deaf Parliament, serves as a platform of deliberative democracy developed through cooperation between Ghent University and the Flemish Association of the Deaf (Fevlado) in response to a question from the deaf community about participation in decision making. The name Flemish Deaf Parliament also resulted from this cooperation.
Flemish Deaf Parliament aims to provide opportunities for deaf community members to “voice” and to actively address concerns about the future and well-being of the community. The initiative began with a 2-minute trailer in Flemish Sign Language produced by VisualBox and launched on Inter national Deaf Awareness Day 2013: “Flemish Deaf Parliament: Flemish Deaf People Speak Out!” (www.signlanguageprojects.com). A translation of excerpts from the trailer, which featured deaf individuals describing their concerns about the future, is provided here:
I have two children, Lotte and Tibo, both of whom are attending mainstreamed schools. When I look at this from a distance, I see that they have been learning Dutch. What about deaf identity, Flemish Sign Language, and other elements? . . . .
More and more deaf children are being mainstreamed. Deaf clubs are declining. Who will be taking over our clubs?
Last year, I attended the Scouts youth club. This was a big group and I was not able to follow. So I quit.
Tibault would like to have a deaf Scouts group. . . .
I have grown up deaf, from my youth until my old age now. I am over 80 years old. . . . I have been thinking of going to a home for older deaf people. I am afraid of being bored in a home with hearing people. But where can I find a home for older deaf people? There is none in Flanders.
What about employment in the future? Will my generation be able to make a career? Can they benefit from asking older deaf people to share their experiences?
Over generations, the deaf community has transmitted their heritage. Children need the wider deaf community to continue to “feed” them and enable them to develop and grow their deaf identity, deaf culture, Flemish Sign Language . . . .
Young deaf people, please consider learning how to help us older deaf people, for example, by advocating for us or studying to become a caretaker for the elderly. It is now up to the younger generations to [End Page 350] give something back. I have a daughter, but she’s hearing, so I think about the deaf community.
The topics discussed in the Flemish Deaf Parliament 2014 meetings covered the transition from deaf schools to mainstreamed education; the transmission of the community’s cultural heritage and social and linguistic capital; equal opportunities in (lifelong) education; increased social mobility despite barriers to access and employment; political participation; and older deaf people advocating for a better quality of life, peer contact, and services in Flemish Sign Language. These issues invite a range of possible answers and perspectives. To make sense of them, deaf epistemologies have begun to be explored as analytical instruments for gaining insight into the diversity of deaf lives and into multiple ways of understanding the world (De Clerck, 2012a, 2014; Paul & Moores, 2012; Young & Temple, 2014). Indeed, Flemish Deaf Parliament was specifically oriented toward multiple deaf epistemologies, intergenerational dialogue, and democratic practice.
Deaf Participation and Citizenship Over Time
The movement toward deaf participation in the 21st century can be illustrated by two milestones. The first was the establishment in 2008 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (UNCRPD), which protects the linguistic and cultural identities of deaf learners and invites societies to include persons with disabilities as equal citizens (see Hermann-Shores, ch. 6, Jokinen, ch. 7, and Pabsch, ch. 10). The second milestone was the Statement of Principle of the 21st International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (ICED), in 2010. The...
