152 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
Jeremy offers another thought on the shared experiences of members which enable
them to relate to young deaf people from oral backgrounds:I remember that when I came home after an event, I was always enthusiastic
about the club here. I used to tell my parents that there were a lot of people
and that we had a good time. One time, my mother wondered whether this
had something to do with all of us having hearing parents. At first I thought
her remark didn’t make any sense, but then I thought about this and of the
people on the board and my friends, and I realized that she may have a point.
Since most of us have hearing parents, we have been raised orally, and we
also know how to interact in the hearing world. We are also fluent signers,
so we have both of these worlds in ourselves. For example, when deaf people
who have grown up orally don’t feel “ready” [to meet other deaf people and
learn/use Flemish Sign Language], we know how that feels. We know that
their language is Dutch; we can adapt our languages, and know that it will
change with time into fluent Flemish Sign Language.Recently, there have been new initiatives to encourage young deaf people to get
in touch with the deaf community and each other. A board member of Kajong, an
organization working with young deaf people, shares his views on bridging the gaps:I also have hearing parents and grew up orally. In my secondary school, in a
mainstreamed setting, I received information about the youth club from my
itinerant teacher. I was eager to meet new people and open up a new world,
for example learning about sign language interpreting, and I feel accepted.
I am also a board member of Kajong, an organisation that we established two
years ago, because itinerant teachers saw that many young deaf people felt
they did not fit in with the deaf world, and it was hard for the community to
bridge this gap. We are cooperating with Jong-Fevlado (the youth section of
the Flemish Deaf Association) as we want young deaf people to feel at ease,
and be more open, so that it is a little easier to for them to cross this bridge,
with less pressure and fewer concerns.Karina works at the deaf school in the region, and explains that the threshold for
deaf people to enter the community may be high, especially when they grow up
without deaf community experiences, which is why these bridging initiatives are a
good idea:I recall that when I discussed [deaf community organizations] with deaf teen-
agers, it was very hard for them to imagine a deaf center or a deaf club. They
thought those didn’t exist. They had no idea what they could be. So on the
computer I showed them pictures of a deaf soccer team, but it was very, very
hard for them to grasp this concept. Some of them became curious about get-
ting into the deaf world, while others were reluctant, because they had never
seen the deaf community.