Maartje De Meulder
Biographic Data
| ID | 1261502 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maartje De Meulder |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maartje |
| FAMILY NAME | De Meulder |
| SIGNATURE | DE MEULDER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Namur |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7607-5314 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 78 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
From background knowledge to foundational practice
This article examines the integration of Deaf Studies and ethics as core components of the bachelor’s programme in Dutch Sign Language (NGT) /Dutch interpreting at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (HU) in the Netherlands. Drawing on student evaluations, instructor feedback, and theoretical perspectives, it explores the curriculum redesign process aimed at fostering a holistic, student-centred approach to interpreter education. By embedd…
Hearing parents learning sign language
Around 90–95% of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children are born to hearing parents, most of whom have no prior knowledge of a sign language. This creates a risk of language deprivation, with long-term effects on language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Research shows that sign language input supports children's development without hindering spoken language acquisition. Yet many hearing parents of DHH children are discouraged from …
This is our rhythm
Deaf scholars have long worked at the margins of academic institutions not designed for them. Designated deaf academic spaces—where deaf ways of knowing, teaching, and communicating are centered—remain rare. This study explores what becomes possible when such a space exists, presenting Dr Deaf as a case study. Drawing on interviews with participants and teachers, we show how deaf epistemologies and pedagogies are enacted through cross-stage respo…
Navigating sign language learning
The importance of hearing parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children learning sign language is well documented. However, parents face many challenges in this learning process. This study investigates the experiences of Dutch hearing parents learning Dutch Sign Language (NGT) or Sign-supported Dutch through semi-structured interviews with 21 parents and 6 NGT teachers. The interviews explored parents’ and teachers’ perspectives on parental…
“I feel a bit more of a conduit now”
This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sign language interpreting profession drawing on data from a fourth and final survey conducted in June 2021 as part of a series of online “living surveys” during the pandemic. The survey, featuring 331 respondents, highlights significant changes in the occupational conditions and practices of sign language interpreters due to the sudden shift towards remote video-mediated interpreti…
Language diaries in the study of language use and language choice
This article discusses the rationale for using language diaries as a method to evaluate language use and language choice in multilingual contexts, as well as the benefits and limitations of this approach vis-à-vis other research methods. This is illustrated using examples from two contexts: Flemish Sign Language/Dutch bilinguals in Flanders and Gaelic/English bilinguals in the Western Isles of Scotland. In both cases, the language diaries were pa…
The illusion of choice in inclusive education
The inclusive education debate is often framed as a choice between outmoded special schools and progressive inclusive general education schools. However, the rhetoric of ‘choice’ hides what is in reality a context of restricted resources, both in general education and in special congregated settings. We interview three deaf-parented families with a total of six deaf children enrolled in different educational settings in Belgium. We explore the ed…
Family language policy on holiday
Most FLP research focuses on intrafamily communication (1FLP) and how this is impacted by larger contexts. But what happens when different multilingual families interact intensively on a daily basis? This article analyses language use during a holiday in India in and between four deaf-hearing befriended families, and how this evolved over the twelve days of the trip (4FLP). Three of the four families are our (the authors’) own. The family members…
Exploring the multilingual family repertoire
Introduction of the special issue ‘Exploring the multilingual family repertoire: ethnographic approaches
Introduction
“So, why do you sign?” Deaf and hearing new signers, their motivation, and revitalisation policies for sign languages
Describe, don't prescribe. The practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers
In this article we discuss the practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers. Applying the translanguaging concept to deaf signers brings a different perspective by focusing on sensorial accessibility. While the sensory orientations of deaf people are at the heart of their translanguaging practices, sensory asymmetries are often not acknowledged in translanguaging theory and research. This has led to a bias in the use of…
Intersectional inclusion for deaf learners
This paper discusses the meaning of inclusive education for deaf learners in a way that acknowledges the diversity of learner identities, and outlines problems with normative definitions of inclusive education as advanced by recent interpretations of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This discussion calls on us to reconsider how the concepts of inclusion and segregation are understood i…
Buttering their bread on both sides
In the past two decades, a wave of campaigns to recognise sign languages have taken place in numerous countries. These campaigns sought official recognition of national sign languages, with the aim of enhancing signers’ social mobility and protecting the vitality of sign languages. These activities differ from a long history of sign language planning from a ‘language as a problem’ approach largely used by educators and policymakers to date. Howev…
Promotion in times of endangerment
The influence of deaf people’s dual category status on sign language planning
Through the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act, British Sign Language (BSL) was given legal status in Scotland. The main motives for the Act were a desire to put BSL on a similar footing with Gaelic and the fact that in Scotland, BSL signers are the only group whose first language is not English who must rely on disability discrimination legislation to secure access to services in their own language. I argue this is caused by deaf peoples’ dual…
From Erasure to Recognition (and Back Again?)
Understanding Deafhood
The authors argue that Deafhood (a term coined by Dr. Paddy Ladd) is an open-ended concept with an essentialist core. They describe how deaf people who have attended their Deafhood lectures and workshops have perceived different aspects of the Deafhood concept, and compare the basic tenets of Deafhood and criticisms on Deafhood to theories and criticisms on feminist essentialisms. The authors find that the vagueness and wideness of the Deafhood c…
Describe, don't prescribe. The practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers
In this article we discuss the practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers. Applying the translanguaging concept to deaf signers brings a different perspective by focusing on sensorial accessibility. While the sensory orientations of deaf people are at the heart of their translanguaging practices, sensory asymmetries are often not acknowledged in translanguaging theory and research. This has led to a bias in the use of…
Buttering their bread on both sides
In the past two decades, a wave of campaigns to recognise sign languages have taken place in numerous countries. These campaigns sought official recognition of national sign languages, with the aim of enhancing signers’ social mobility and protecting the vitality of sign languages. These activities differ from a long history of sign language planning from a ‘language as a problem’ approach largely used by educators and policymakers to date. Howev…
Understanding Deafhood
The authors argue that Deafhood (a term coined by Dr. Paddy Ladd) is an open-ended concept with an essentialist core. They describe how deaf people who have attended their Deafhood lectures and workshops have perceived different aspects of the Deafhood concept, and compare the basic tenets of Deafhood and criticisms on Deafhood to theories and criticisms on feminist essentialisms. The authors find that the vagueness and wideness of the Deafhood c…
Intersectional inclusion for deaf learners
This paper discusses the meaning of inclusive education for deaf learners in a way that acknowledges the diversity of learner identities, and outlines problems with normative definitions of inclusive education as advanced by recent interpretations of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This discussion calls on us to reconsider how the concepts of inclusion and segregation are understood i…
Family language policy on holiday
Most FLP research focuses on intrafamily communication (1FLP) and how this is impacted by larger contexts. But what happens when different multilingual families interact intensively on a daily basis? This article analyses language use during a holiday in India in and between four deaf-hearing befriended families, and how this evolved over the twelve days of the trip (4FLP). Three of the four families are our (the authors’) own. The family members…
Introduction
Exploring the multilingual family repertoire
Introduction of the special issue ‘Exploring the multilingual family repertoire: ethnographic approaches
Promotion in times of endangerment
The influence of deaf people’s dual category status on sign language planning
Through the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act, British Sign Language (BSL) was given legal status in Scotland. The main motives for the Act were a desire to put BSL on a similar footing with Gaelic and the fact that in Scotland, BSL signers are the only group whose first language is not English who must rely on disability discrimination legislation to secure access to services in their own language. I argue this is caused by deaf peoples’ dual…
Understanding Deafhood
The authors argue that Deafhood (a term coined by Dr. Paddy Ladd) is an open-ended concept with an essentialist core. They describe how deaf people who have attended their Deafhood lectures and workshops have perceived different aspects of the Deafhood concept, and compare the basic tenets of Deafhood and criticisms on Deafhood to theories and criticisms on feminist essentialisms. The authors find that the vagueness and wideness of the Deafhood c…
From Erasure to Recognition (and Back Again?)
Promotion in times of endangerment
The influence of deaf people’s dual category status on sign language planning
Through the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act, British Sign Language (BSL) was given legal status in Scotland. The main motives for the Act were a desire to put BSL on a similar footing with Gaelic and the fact that in Scotland, BSL signers are the only group whose first language is not English who must rely on disability discrimination legislation to secure access to services in their own language. I argue this is caused by deaf peoples’ dual…
Buttering their bread on both sides
In the past two decades, a wave of campaigns to recognise sign languages have taken place in numerous countries. These campaigns sought official recognition of national sign languages, with the aim of enhancing signers’ social mobility and protecting the vitality of sign languages. These activities differ from a long history of sign language planning from a ‘language as a problem’ approach largely used by educators and policymakers to date. Howev…
Intersectional inclusion for deaf learners
This paper discusses the meaning of inclusive education for deaf learners in a way that acknowledges the diversity of learner identities, and outlines problems with normative definitions of inclusive education as advanced by recent interpretations of Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This discussion calls on us to reconsider how the concepts of inclusion and segregation are understood i…
“So, why do you sign?” Deaf and hearing new signers, their motivation, and revitalisation policies for sign languages
Describe, don't prescribe. The practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers
In this article we discuss the practice and politics of translanguaging in the context of deaf signers. Applying the translanguaging concept to deaf signers brings a different perspective by focusing on sensorial accessibility. While the sensory orientations of deaf people are at the heart of their translanguaging practices, sensory asymmetries are often not acknowledged in translanguaging theory and research. This has led to a bias in the use of…
Introduction
Language diaries in the study of language use and language choice
This article discusses the rationale for using language diaries as a method to evaluate language use and language choice in multilingual contexts, as well as the benefits and limitations of this approach vis-à-vis other research methods. This is illustrated using examples from two contexts: Flemish Sign Language/Dutch bilinguals in Flanders and Gaelic/English bilinguals in the Western Isles of Scotland. In both cases, the language diaries were pa…
The illusion of choice in inclusive education
The inclusive education debate is often framed as a choice between outmoded special schools and progressive inclusive general education schools. However, the rhetoric of ‘choice’ hides what is in reality a context of restricted resources, both in general education and in special congregated settings. We interview three deaf-parented families with a total of six deaf children enrolled in different educational settings in Belgium. We explore the ed…
Family language policy on holiday
Most FLP research focuses on intrafamily communication (1FLP) and how this is impacted by larger contexts. But what happens when different multilingual families interact intensively on a daily basis? This article analyses language use during a holiday in India in and between four deaf-hearing befriended families, and how this evolved over the twelve days of the trip (4FLP). Three of the four families are our (the authors’) own. The family members…
Exploring the multilingual family repertoire
Introduction of the special issue ‘Exploring the multilingual family repertoire: ethnographic approaches
“I feel a bit more of a conduit now”
This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sign language interpreting profession drawing on data from a fourth and final survey conducted in June 2021 as part of a series of online “living surveys” during the pandemic. The survey, featuring 331 respondents, highlights significant changes in the occupational conditions and practices of sign language interpreters due to the sudden shift towards remote video-mediated interpreti…
This is our rhythm
Deaf scholars have long worked at the margins of academic institutions not designed for them. Designated deaf academic spaces—where deaf ways of knowing, teaching, and communicating are centered—remain rare. This study explores what becomes possible when such a space exists, presenting Dr Deaf as a case study. Drawing on interviews with participants and teachers, we show how deaf epistemologies and pedagogies are enacted through cross-stage respo…
Navigating sign language learning
The importance of hearing parents of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children learning sign language is well documented. However, parents face many challenges in this learning process. This study investigates the experiences of Dutch hearing parents learning Dutch Sign Language (NGT) or Sign-supported Dutch through semi-structured interviews with 21 parents and 6 NGT teachers. The interviews explored parents’ and teachers’ perspectives on parental…
From background knowledge to foundational practice
This article examines the integration of Deaf Studies and ethics as core components of the bachelor’s programme in Dutch Sign Language (NGT) /Dutch interpreting at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (HU) in the Netherlands. Drawing on student evaluations, instructor feedback, and theoretical perspectives, it explores the curriculum redesign process aimed at fostering a holistic, student-centred approach to interpreter education. By embedd…
Hearing parents learning sign language
Around 90–95% of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children are born to hearing parents, most of whom have no prior knowledge of a sign language. This creates a risk of language deprivation, with long-term effects on language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Research shows that sign language input supports children's development without hindering spoken language acquisition. Yet many hearing parents of DHH children are discouraged from …
Hearing Impairment and Communication (15 works) · Sign language (13 works) · Linguistics (11 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (10 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare (6 works) · Sign (mathematics (6 works)