Deaf Identity Revisited 153
Jana, who recently joined the community, bravely stands up and shares her
experiences in freshly-acquired Flemish Sign Language, sometimes pausing to
think about which sign to use:
I have grown up orally, and my parents didn’t know anything about the deaf
community. I have always learned that deaf people have a disability, that
Flemish Sign Language was bad, and that oral communication would give
me more independence. Later, when I went to a deaf club with friends, it was
scary. I felt more disabled, since I wanted to interact with deaf people but
didn’t know how. This took a lot of time. It was very difficult for me; since
I had learned that I was not deaf, I had to be hearing. It took a long time for
me to really accept that. I now understand that being deaf is not a disability,
but enriches my life. My parents didn’t have this information. So I wonder
whether deaf clubs perhaps could cooperate more with hearing parents of
deaf children.
Marie adds further thoughts:
When Jana had just entered the community, she realized that she had missed
many things. So we have been thinking a lot about that. It was not the fault
of her parents, and it was not her own fault, but there are a lot of gaps in the
medical world and the education system and how they provide information. I
think it would be a good idea if deaf clubs could find a way to be more open
to hearing families with deaf children. I am not sure how; perhaps we could
organize activities. I think that we should try to give future deaf children more
positive experiences than Jana had.
Drawing on the linguistic and cultural resources of the community that they have
just joined, showing who they are in dialogue with its members (and in some way also
with their families), they present themselves in personal and unpredictable ways,
and change the community’s narratives while doing so (Arendt, 1988; Cavarero,
2000). Arendt describes this interweaving of human relations through the meta-
phor of a web:The disclosure of the “who” through speech, and the setting of a new be-
ginning through action, always fall into an already existing web where their
immediate consequences can be felt. Together they start a new process
which eventually emerges as the unique life story of the newcomer, affecting
uniquely the life stories of all those with whom he comes into contact. It is
because of this already existing web of human relationships, with its innumer-
able, conflicting wills and intentions, that action never achieves its purpose;
but it is also because of this medium, in which action alone is real, that it “pro-
duces” stories with or without intention as naturally as fabrication produces
tangible things. (Arendt, 1998, p. 184)In Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities (De Clerck & Paul,
2016), the chapter titled “A Sustainability Perspective and Potentialities of Being