Statement:
Ladies and gentlemen,
The World Federation of the Deaf is an international non-governmental organisation representing and promoting approximately 70 million deaf people’s human rights worldwide. Through our advocacy work with our 136 member organisations that are national deaf organisations, we are striving towards the recognition of the right to sign language of deaf people in addition to their right to reasonable accommodation in the labour market. Indeed, deaf people are both disability rights holders and members of linguistic and cultural minorities through the use of their national sign languages.
Deaf people constitute one of the most marginalized groups of persons with disabilities in terms of access to employment and career opportunities due to the lack of accessible information and communication in their national sign languages provided by the placement services for jobseekers, both public and private employers, public authorities mandated for the employment sector and even trade unions. Moreover, partly due to the linguistic barriers they face but also due to the medical approach pregnant in many countries in the world, deaf people are often stigmatized and/or their skills are not recognised in the labour market, making them one of the most discriminated group of persons with disabilities. Finally, deaf people are often uninformed about their right to reasonable accommodation and to effective remedies both through trade unions and the legal system.
We, the World Federation of the Deaf, call upon stakeholders, including Member States, employment public and private services, trade unions, and even organisations of persons with disabilities, to contribute to a change of mentalities to value the employment force of deaf people for the labour market as part of the Deaf Gain perspective. Moreover, we strongly encourage the promotion of inclusive employment environments where both employers and employees learn sign language and visual communication to interact with their deaf colleagues, and the provision of professional qualified sign language interpreters in collective and formal meetings and events at work. Finally, we call upon public authorities, human rights institutions, and trade unions to provide information and services to deaf people in their national sign language regarding their rights to equal treatment, reasonable accommodation, and effective legal remedies in case of discrimination.