Theme – Building Inclusive Communities for All
International Week of Deaf People
Sign languages in Education – Monday 19th September 2022
Acquisition of sign language from birth from fluent sign language models is critical to the cognitive and social development of deaf children. A strong language foundation is necessary to learn other languages. Many D/deaf children and D/deaf with disabilities are born into families who are not yet fluent in their national sign languages. The services such as schools and universities must be in place to provide sign language learning and support to families so they can learn and use their national sign languages.
Let me see what I can put down here to explain why sign language is critical and vital in all education across the country.
“According to the World Federation of the Deaf, there are more than 70 million deaf people worldwide. More than 80% of them live in developing countries. Collectively, they use more than 300 different sign languages.”
https://www.un.org/en/observances/sign-languages-day
“By 2050 nearly 2.5 billion people are projected to have some degree of hearing loss and at least 700 million will require hearing rehabilitation.” World Health Organisation
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss
The detailed quote from the World Federation of the Deaf – Human Rights of the Deaf show here –
“Even when education is provided to deaf people, it is almost always inferior to educational standards and opportunities provided to hearing persons. Research has repeatedly shown that the importance of quality early and primary childhood education and accessible secondary, tertiary and lifelong learning cannot be understated.
The WFD strongly believes that every deaf person has a right to bilingual education, a social-cultural approach, which uses sign language as the language of instruction, while equally emphasising the use of the written language(s) in that country.
The CRPD promotes deaf culture and the linguistic identity of the deaf community. Sign language and deaf culture must be nurtured and important through means and methods of education. Only about 1-2 % of deaf people across the globe access education through sign language. As such, the WFD strongly advocates for bilingual education. Too often, sign language is prohibited in educational institutions or is muddled by use of total communication, a method that has been shown to be ineffective and widely inconsistent, especially in comparison to the bilingual approach.
To succeed academically and socially, deaf students must be in bilingual environments with other deaf role models and learners.
The WFD urges national, state and provincial governments, as well as public and private educational institutions, to ensure the right to education for deaf learners by:
- Providing bilingual education to deaf learners, which will enable them to succeed to their maximum potential,
- Ensuring that deaf learners have deaf peers to develop strong language and cultural identity;
- Consulting directly with deaf people and their associations on how to meet their educational needs best, and
- Training, hiring, and promoting qualified teachers fluent in sign language, especially teachers, assistants and aides who are deaf.
In the Human Rights by the World Federation of the Deaf People list here
HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS THAT SUPPORT BILINGUAL EDUCATION:
- Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education(paragraph 21 on page 18): Addressed the right to receive education in a national sign language for deaf children.
- CRPD Article 24.1: Requires the governments to ensure an inclusive education system at all levels.
- CRPD Article 24.3b: Ensures the right to learn sign language and promotes the linguistic identity of the Deaf Community.
- CRPD Article 24.4: Requires teachers of deaf children to be qualified in sign language
- 2030 Agenda, Goal 4.5: By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.
- 2030 Agenda, Goal 4.a: Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.”
What can you learn from this blog, and how can you prepare a better education to include our D/deaf children in education now and in the future? Note many quotes are in their English language here.
https://borgenproject.org/tag/the-nzeve-deaf-center/
