Deaf Ways of Education 73
(translated interview, 2004) explained how she woke up when visiting Gallaudet
University in 1994:Going to Gallaudet, there were many things that I absorbed with my eyes.
First, when we entered, there were lots of posters: deaf history, and so on.
Then there was the reception: The secretary signed while she was on the
phone! Deaf people could follow the conversation, like hearing people could
hear it! My mouth fell open with surprise. I woke up more and more. Also,
hearing and deaf people, they all signed. I met a person, and I didn’t know
whether he/she was hearing or deaf! That was the first thing that woke me up:
Hearing people signed, too! That was impossible here [Flanders]; I thought
that was really impossible here. I had never seen that here. Also, when two
hearing people and one deaf person walk together, then the two hearing
people will definitely talk. At Gallaudet, they sign! I don’t know whether they
are deaf or hearing. Also, Tv: full captioning there, full. My mouth fell open
with astonishment, [it was] really amazing. oh, I felt at home, [it was] really
a dream world, dream world. That is possible here, too! We have to fight, we
have to fight! We have to form a group! Also the president is deaf! That is
possible, a deaf president! Before, I always thought, a deaf president, that is
impossible; but it is not! Because of all those things, I started to think “deaf,”
that also means possibilities. Why did I always think negative? Cannot, cannot.
Because the president is deaf, and because of other things, I started to think
differently: If he can do that, I can do that too! I started to change inside.
They all signed: That woke me up!Gaby’s inward reflection was linked to the growth of an outward turn to other people
(yang, 2000) and the birth of deaf activism in Flanders. A circle of deaf empower-
ment can represent this process (see Figure 3.3). This circle starts from the input
of deaf cultural rhetoric and indicates stages of transformation from waking up and
the development of a strong identity to activism and the spreading of deaf cultural
rhetoric, the latter making the circle round.^10 If commonalities in the life stories are
paraphrased (Stebbins, 2001) by means of common signs and common themes, this
process can be described as follows:Deaf cultural rhetoric and world dream make deaf people’s mouths fall open
with surprise. Deaf people see, see, open eyes, and absorb the new information
and world without barriers. The information of “deaf can!! own language!!!
own culture!!!” opens deaf people’s minds: They think and consider their
lives. They wake up and develop a strong personal awareness of deafness:
deaf identity grows! They turn a button in the head: reject their old negative- In the interviews in this case study, Flemish deaf people mentioned waking up and experiencing
the circle of deaf empowerment more than one time in their lives, like a cyclical movement each time
adding depth and new dimensions.