Sign Languages
Today Marks the beginning of the International Week of the Deaf. Watch our latest video to learn more about this year’s celebrations.
The International Week of the Deaf (IWD) was started by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD). It was first launched in 1958 in Rome, Italy. It is celebrated every year by Deaf people all over the world during the last week of september. This year IWD will be celebrated from 21st September to 27th September. This year the theme of the 2020 International Week of the Deaf is “Reaffirming Deaf People’s Human Rights”.This means that everyone should unite to secure and promote human rights for Deaf people.
Right now Deaf in India are facing so many barriers due to inaccessibility and inadequate education. It is a Deaf person’s human right to receive accessibility such as having interpreters on media platforms, use of Sign Language, equal employment opportunities, etc. We all need to work together and ensure that Deaf individuals receive their human rights. Each day of the week will have a different theme. We will be releasing a video everyday explaining the theme of the day. So stay tuned and keep watching and sharing the videos in order to create awareness about IWD and the need for Human Rights for Deaf People.
Today’s theme is “Sign Languages”. Sign language is the native language of Deaf people.There are more than 200 different sign languages used around the world, which is used by more than 70 million deaf people worldwide. They are used by Deaf children, Deaf adults, their Deaf Parents, Hearing parents, their families etc. National Sign Languages connect deaf people to Deaf Communities. Deaf people share a common culture and identity which they share through the use of national sign languages.Deaf Communities are very diverse. They are found in different cultures, religions, etc.
For this International Week of the Deaf the focus is to show the richness of sign languages and their equal status with spoken languages.However Deaf people across the world face a lot of discrimination and not are allowed to use their native language Sign Language. Let’s work together to make sure that the right to use sign languages is given to all people India and around the world.
