To make informed decisions, we need an informed world. Too often, a lack of accessibility bars deaf people from sharing and learning information with others in real-time.
- Sign Language interpretation
Article 9 of the CRPD requires States Parties to take appropriate measures to ensure deaf people’s access, on an equal basis with others, to all aspects of society in their national sign language, such as access to health care services, employment, and education, through the use of sign language and access to professional sign language interpretation services. Worldwide, there is much variety in the training, professional development, employment opportunities and remuneration available for sign language interpreters and translators, with the profession being at varying stages of development in different countries. The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) are working collaboratively together towards the professionalisation of sign language interpreters in order for deaf sign language users to have access to information and society.
- Health equity
According to the World Health Organisation’s 2022 Global Report on health equity of persons with disabilities, significant gaps in health equity among persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities, still exist. Article 25 of the CRPD read conjointly with Articles 2, 9, 21 and 30 recognises the rights of deaf people to access healthcare services, health information, and communication with health professionals in their language, the national sign languages. Throughout citizen data research projects conducted in Global South countries focusing on health equity, WFD identified major barriers faced by deaf men and (Indigenous) women in their access to healthcare and produced recommendations to address them. They include not only the conduction of training for health professionals but also the measures to increase health literacy among deaf people, the provision of health training for deaf people, especially for deaf women on their sexual and reproductive health rights, and the investment in policy development by health authorities in close collaboration with national deaf associations.
- Sign language technologies
Advances in new technologies and systems over the past decade have had a profound and positive impact on deaf people’s participation in society. This includes information and communication technologies, assistive technologies and artificial intelligence-led technologies. In regard to the surge of the latter, national sign languages have not yet been addressed sufficiently alongside their development until recently; for example, in the field of language translation between written/spoken languages and sign languages. The World Federation of the Deaf emphasises the principle of Article 4.3 of the CRPD, and the necessity for governments, companies, innovators and researchers to consult with representative organisations of deaf people when designing services and products that have an impact on the daily lives of deaf people.
Human Rights Instruments:
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) Article 9
Resources
- Statement on Adoption and Adaptation of Technologies and Accessibility
- Statement on Use of Signing Avatars
- Statement on Educational Rights for Deaf Learners During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond
- Statement on Accessible Communication for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people during COVID-19 Pandemic
- Joint Statement on Access to Health Services & Interpreter Occupational Health During the Coronavirus (COVID 19)
- Statement on the Right of Deaf People to Equal Treatment in the Context of Global Covid-19 Pandemic
- Joint Statement responding to the Safeguarding and Protection Needs of Deaf Children and Youth during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Position Paper on the Social Inclusion of Deaf People with Intellectual Disabilities
- Joint Statement on Automatic Speech Recognition in Telephone Relay Services and in Captioning Services
- Complementary or Diametrically opposed: Situating Deaf Communities within ‘disability’ vs ‘cultural and linguistic minority’ constructs
- Access to Higher Education for Deaf Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Statement on Deaf People’s Right to Drive a Car or other Vehicles
- Global Disability Summit 2022 Report
- Global Report on Health Equity for persons with disabilities
- Global Survey on persons with disabilities and disasters