On the final day of the WFD’s participation in the 11th CRPD Session, the Committee had an interactive dialogue with the government of Costa Rica. During this dialogue the Committee asked specifically about the provision of sign language in the education of deaf children in mainstreamed and in traditional (deaf school) settings. The WFD works closely with Committee members to ensure sign language rights are an integral part of the WFDs work.

The WFD team at this 11th CRPD Session has a team of volunteers to help its work. The WFD has only three salaried employees and Board members volunteer a lot of their time also. At this session we have been fortunate to have a WFD Intern, Jamie Shawn Hardman, who produced our videos and assisted with captioning the videos. Hardman spent 3 hours captioning an 8 minute video and the WFD could not have been able to do this without her work and the work of other volunteers. The WFD does provide access via text of its IS videos under the videos. The WFD also thanks WFD Intern Hyo Min Kim for her work with the WFD Office.

Through the efforts of WFD Board, staff, and volunteers the WFD is able to make an impact at CRPD Committee sessions on the linguistic and educational rights of deaf children, ensuring they will be able to be educated in sign language environments which maximize their social and academic development. The WFD’s work is aimed towards full human rights for all deaf people around the world.