The World Federation of the Deaf is pleased to announce that the 3rd International Conference of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) will be held in Budapest, Hungary from 9 to 11 November 2017.
This follows a successful bid to host the WFD Conference being lodged by the Hungarian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Siketek és Nagyothallók Országos Szövetsége, SINOSZ).
It is expected that 1,500 people, including both international and domestic delegates, will attend the WFD Conference which will be held at the Budapest Congress Centre.
The Theme of the Conference will be “Full inclusion with sign language!” Underlying the theme is the belief that full social inclusion of deaf people is possible if sign language is recognised and used widely within society.
WFD President, Mr. Colin Allen, and the SINOSZ President, Dr. Ádám Kósa, Member of the European Parliament, have signed an agreement committing to collaborate in the organisation of the event. Following the signing, Dr. Kósa emphasised that the WFD Conference, which will enjoy significant support by the Hungarian government, highlights recognition by the World Federation of the Deaf of the Hungarian National Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the oldest organisation representing the interests of persons with disabilities in Hungary, as it celebrates its 110th birthday, the timing of which will coincide with the WFD Conference. It is acknowledged that Hungary was the first country to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol in 2007.
Mr Allen noted that WFD as an international organisation, representing 134 member organisations from five continents, organises an international conference every four years with the last conference being held in his home city, Sydney, Australia in 2013 hosted by the Deaf Society of New South Wales.
A key objective of the World Federation of the Deaf is to ensure that members of Deaf Communities in every country have the right to use sign language as their primary language in all walks of life with the result being, the preservation of and development of deaf culture.
English Hungerian Statement on the unification of sign languages
