Dominiqué Flagg

Counselor/Academic Advisor

NTID Counseling & Academic Advising Services

Dominiqué Flagg is from NTID Counseling & Academic Advising Services (CAAS).

What is your nationality/how do you identify?
I am a proud Black Deaf Lesbian. I identify myself Black, not African American as I was not born there and identify Black foremost before all my other identities.

What or who has been your biggest cultural influence?
Stephanie Smith-Albert and Tim Albert and my family have been my biggest cultural influence. I grew up in a White Catholic Deaf residential school. Stephanie and Tim have been my mentors from high school and still today. Both introduced me to National Black Deaf Advocate and opened my eyes and deepened my understanding of my Black identity, culture and community. With Stephanie Smith-Albert’s passing, I am trying to carry her legacy by giving back to future Black Deaf generations through support, mentorship and resources. My family instilled in me my love for Black culture foods (known as soul food), cooking and music.

What is your favorite cultural dish?
My favorite cultural dish is my mother’s homemade Mac & Cheese, collard greens, dressing (Black people’s word for stuffing), sweet potato, and cranberry.

What would you like people to know about your culture?
There’s more to Black people than their trauma and pain, and there’s more to Black culture than food and music. Black culture has a rich history and also include Black joy, resilience, sense of humor and so much more. Black culture emphasize family, united community, always supporting each other through everything, and have fun through it all.

From your lens, how can the larger community better support Black individuals, like yourself?
From my personal experiences and perspective as a Black person, I believe that every individual within the community should actively engage in consistent introspection, proactively address anti-blackness or anti-black racism not only on a systemic level but including in one’s personal lives, at work, or within family and social circles, and truly listen to the Black individuals within one’s workplace or personal lives. Performative allyship exhibits insincerity that causes Black individuals to feel distrust and lack of support within the larger community.

Do you have any resources to share for someone who would like to learn more about your culture?
No number of or specific resources truly help someone to learn about Black culture as actually interacting with Black individuals and listening to them. Just like hearing people don’t benefit from solely focusing on ASL and Deaf culture books, they need to actively involve themselves in Deaf community and interact with Deaf individuals. The same concept applies with the Black community and Black culture.

What is a fun fact about yourself?
Cooking and baking are my favorite things to do and a way I unwind or destress.