18 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
This has led to the cultural recognition of Flemish Sign Language by the
government in 2006 and, in the summer of 2012, the circulation of a petition for
educational access, in particular a legal requirement for elementary and secondary
schools to provide interpreters for at least 70% of class time, following the initiation
of a judicial process by parents in 2010. After another legal bid by parents in 2013
based on the Un Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UnCRPD),
the Flemish government granted interpreting services for deaf learners in kinder-
garten and elementary education. Subsequently, the parliament approved a new
educational decree on Flemish Sign Language interpreting for learners from kin-
dergarten to university (De Clerck, 2013; see below and Chapter 6). At the time of
writing, the community is preparing for the tenth anniversary of the recognition of
Flemish Sign Language.
Community initiatives like the Flemish Deaf Parliament that foster information
sharing, open discussion, participation, and empowerment and that dynamically
give contemporary meaning to cultural heritage may facilitate intergenerational
dialogue and inspire a practice of solidarity. Fevlado is currently exploring how to
implement the initiative within its structure.
The third vignette from Uganda involves a local community’s stake in deaf edu-
cation. While I was in this country researching the sustainable development of its
sign community in January 2013, they held an open meeting after church to discuss
problems at the Wakiso Secondary School for the Deaf in Kampala. Education is a
deep concern within this community, having been hard-won. Because of civil war
and restricted opportunities, it took until the 2000s for deaf students to be able to
enroll in secondary deaf schools. Wakiso was the first, established in 2002 thanks to
the concerted efforts of local deaf adults and the advocacy of parents, and became
government funded in 2006. Prior to this, deaf signers had to earn their high school
certificates at Kenyan secondary deaf schools, all of which were vocational, and this
was only an option for students whose parents could afford it and/or for students
from the ntinda Primary School for the Deaf or the ngora Unit for the Deaf, who
were supported financially by CBM, an international Christian development orga-
nization (formerly called Christian Blind Mission). In 1995, CBM began to support
the mainstreaming of deaf students who had passed primary exams at the ngora
Unit into ngora High School with the provision of Ugandan Sign Language (UgSL)
interpreters under a program that continued until 2007 (Lutalo-Kiingi, 2015b;
Lutalo-Kiingi & De Clerck, in press).
In 1995, UgSL was also constitutionally recognized, making Uganda a leader in
Africa, especially given its concurrent development of UgSL research, teaching, and
interpreting through long-term international cooperative programs (see Chapter 8).
Its dynamic deaf community has also benefited from a practice of critical commu-
nity dialogue, enabling them to organize their own advocacy and draw upon a raised
consciousness among the broader society.
This confidence and experience came to the forefront at Wakiso. A student pro-
test had started after a reorganization in which the management had determined
that the school would hire new staff members with minimal signing skills. This move
would have constrained educational access and sign language in teaching practice.