Mission
The Flemish Sign Language Centre (Vlaams GebarentaalCentrum, VGTC) is the knowledge and coordination centre for Flemish sign language. It works with sign language experts, the deaf community, and professionals in this field to increase, disseminate and apply knowledge about VGT (Flemish sign language), and so to enhance the social recognition of VGT and its users.
The VGTC seeks to achieve its mission
- by conducting its own scientific research into VGT and by coordinating, stimulating and supporting others' scientific research into VGT
- by continuing to develop VGT and to support its development (This does not imply that VGT is not yet a language in its own right. However, the VGTC seeks to promote and support the evolution and broader use of VGT.)
- by developing didactic materials for teaching VGT
- by acting as information and contact service for national and foreign stakeholders and interested parties.
Vision
The VGTC bases its efforts on the following values and vision:
- The VGTC considers Flemish sign language to be a language in its own right with its own grammar and vocabulary.
- The VGTC considers language a fundamental component in developing an identity. However, it believes that linguistic identities are dynamic (cf. the notion deafhood) and context-dependent: the deaf inhabit different communities and can identify with various linguistic communities.
- The VGTC considers the community of VGT users to be a diverse linguistic community. Various groups use Flemish sign language with varying degrees of skill. Among them are people born deaf for whom sign language is the first language, people who learned VGT later in life and the non-deaf who learned VGT as first or foreign language. Yet the VGTC opposes parochialism and does not consider the various groups of VGT users as belonging to rigid categories.
- The VGTC emphasises the importance of cooperation between the deaf and the non-deaf. This finds expression in the association's composition and its hiring of paid employees.
- The VGTC is convinced of the richness of a bilingual education when compared to a monolingual education. This is the opposite of the prevailing view that VGT should only be learned "when needed".
- The VGTC sees VGT as a means to promote greater access for the deaf to society and, above all, as a significant element in the pursuit of full citizenship for the deaf.