58 Deaf Epistemologies, Identity, and Learning
deaf places; and the recognition/insurrection of subjugated deaf knowledge that
results from this alternative form of informal and peer education. This leads to
an awakening and an identity shift, in which participants find the strength to share
this information with deaf peers and advocate for equal deaf lives, a transmission
of deaf cultural knowledge that generates further strength and makes the circle of
empowerment.
Since 1993, Belgium has been a federalized monarchy comprising two states: Flan-
ders in the north and Wallonia in the south. The official spoken languages of Flan-
ders and Wallonia are, respectively, Dutch (Flemish) and French. The differences
between Flemish and Dutch can be compared to the differences between British
and American English. In eastern Belgium there is also a small German-speaking
jurisdiction (van Herreweghe, 2002).
A first (unrepresentative) demographic study suggests that about 4,500 deaf
signers use Flemish Sign Language, or vlaamse Gebarentaal (vGT; Loots et al.,
2003). on April 26, 2006, the Flemish parliament recognized vGT as the “first or
preferred language of the Deaf community in Flanders” (Heyerick, 2006). Deaf peo-
ple in the southern part of Belgium use Belgian-French Sign Language, or Langue
des Signes de Belgique Francophone (LSFB), which was officially recognized in
2003 ( Timmermans, 2005). Although the spoken languages in Flanders and the
netherlands, on the one hand, and in Wallonia and France, on the other, are similar,
vGT differs from the Sign Language of the netherlands, nederlandse Gebarentaal,
and LSFB is different from French Sign Language, Langue des Signes Françaises.
Since the national Deaf Federation, navekados, was divided in the 1970s, the
Flemish deaf community has been represented by the Federation of Flemish Deaf
organizations (Federatie van vlaamse Dovenorganisaties, or Fevlado); the Walloon
deaf community has its own national federation, the French Federation of Belgian
Deaf (Fédération Francophone des Sourds de Belgique). Because the Flemish and
Walloon deaf federations are funded by their own sources and have their own agen-
das, Flemish and Walloon deaf people meet and interact less than before the split
of the national Deaf Federation, and Flemish Sign Language and Walloon Sign
Language continue to “develop separately and deviate further from each other”
(van Mulders, 2005, p. 51).
This chapter focuses on deaf people in Flanders. Deaf schools in Flanders were
established between 1820 (when the Ghent deaf school opened) and 1883 (when
the St. Agatha Berchem deaf school opened). Before oralism, a couple of deaf
teachers from Belgium left to study in Paris; when they returned home, they con-
tributed significantly to deaf education (Buyens, 2005; Gerday & Thomas, 2001;
Le Maire, 1996, 1997). Deaf teachers were banned from deaf schools in times of
oralism, such as after the Milan Conference of 1880, which had a strong influence
on deaf education in Belgium (Gerday & Thomas, 2001). Following an interna-
tional trend, in 1979 one Flemish deaf school decided to implement the Total
Communication approach, teaching in “Signed Dutch,” a signed system accom-
panying speech, rather than in a natural sign language (van Herreweghe, 2002).
van Herreweghe explains, “Consequently, all the adults in Flanders, including
deaf and Deaf adults, were educated orally, either in a special education setting