Reflections of a Deaf Scholar 189
working as a researcher in an accessible environment where I was treated as
a fellow professional—these are things that remain meaningful to me to this
day. I was honored to be able to present my research in settings such as the
International Development program, the Gallaudet Research Institute Lecture
Series, and the I. King Jordan Lecture Series on the Deaf president Now! (DpN)
movement (also see Chapter 4). I had read books on DpN, and now I was able
to talk to Gallaudet alumni who had been involved in the protest and reflect
on the impact of the movement on international deaf people. Interviews and
articles about my research appeared in campus publications such as the student
newspaper, The Buff and Blue, and On the Green, the magazine of the Gallaudet
Research Institute.
A particularly important step in my career was the publication of my first research
paper in the American Annals of the Deaf (De Clerck, 2007, which is included in this
book as Chapter 3). I still remember the day I dropped the paper in the mailbox.
I had worked hard on it, and the Gallaudet Research Institute had been so kind as to
offer support for copyediting to help me get it published. I was excited and curious
about the process, and it was great to receive a positive response. I had started read-
ing papers published in the Annals when I was writing my master’s thesis on reading
development in deaf children. Now I had become a scholar who was contributing to
the field.
In terms of international deaf leadership, the Unity for Gallaudet protest in 2006
(against the nomination of a candidate for university president widely regarded as
unsatisfactory) was most inspiring to me in that it brought many of the DpN leaders
back to campus, as well as older American deaf leaders. I had not been exposed
to such intense displays of rhetorical skill in Belgium, and I stayed on campus for
hours to watch and to talk to people. Belgian Gallaudet alumnus Bernard LeMaire
flew over to bring a Belgian flag in support of the Unity for Gallaudet objectives.
Marching on the U.S. Capitol felt like stepping in the footprints of history. Two
Flemish deaf friends came over for a visit; one of them said that being at Gallaudet
was like a dream come true.
I was invited for lunch at House 1 (the president’s residence at Gallaudet) in
April 2005 when Queen Mathilde of Belgium visited Gallaudet. Because the queen
had been a practicing speech therapist before she became a member of the Belgian
royal family and because she had shown a strong interest in developing countries, I
advocated for the presence of international students, especially students from for-
mer Belgian colonies, at a ceremony in support of Gallaudet’s international leader-
ship and student exchange.
I think that these examples illustrate that participation in the social and academic
context in the United States enabled me to experience many things and acquire
skills that seemed out of reach in the Flemish context.^9 These practices of self-actu-
alization and freedom have become significant and sustainable sources of personal- For a description of the deaf educational landscape in Flanders, see also De Clerck (2009c).