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International Day of Sign Languages 2022
The UN General Assembly has announced 23 September as the International Day of Sign Languages to boost awareness of the significance of sign language in the actualization of the human rights of deaf people.

by Pragti Sharma / 23 Sep 2022 15:43 PM IST / 0 Comment(s) / 338

The International Day of Sign Languages is an exceptional opportunity to support and safeguard the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and different sign language users.



During the 2022 celebration of the International Day of Sign Languages, the world will again emphasize the unity induced by our sign languages. Deaf communities, civil society organisations, and governments maintain their collaborative efforts - hand in hand - in facilitating, promoting, and acknowledging national sign languages as part of their countries’ dynamic and diverse linguistic landscapes.



As per the World Federation of the Deaf, more than 70 million deaf people are there worldwide. More than 80% of them live in evolving countries. Collectively, they use over 300 distinct sign languages.



Sign languages are comprehensively natural languages structurally different from spoken languages. There is also an international sign language used by deaf people in international meetings and informally when touring and socializing. It is considered a pidgin form of sign language that is not as complicated as natural sign languages and has a narrow lexicon.



The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities identifies and encourages the use of sign languages. It makes clear that sign languages are equal in status to spoken languages and obligates state parties to facilitate the learning of sign language and promote the linguistic identity of the deaf community.



The UN General Assembly has announced 23 September as the International Day of Sign Languages to boost awareness of the significance of sign language in the actualization of the human rights of deaf people.



The resolution demonstrating the day acknowledges that early access to sign language and assistance in sign language, including quality education available in sign language, is essential to the evolution and development of the deaf individual and crucial to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals. It realizes the significance of maintaining sign languages as part of linguistic and cultural diversity. It also highlights the principle of nothing about us without us- in terms of working with deaf communities.

The proposition for the day came from the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), a federation of 135 national organizations of deaf people, symbolizing approximately 70 million deaf people’s human rights worldwide. The resolution A/RES/72/161, was sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Antigua & Barbuda to the United Nations, co-sponsored by 97 United Nations Member States, and adopted by agreement on 19 December 2017.



The choice of 23 September monumentalizes the date that the WFD was founded in 1951. This day marks the birth of an advocacy organisation, which has, as one of its primary goals, the preservation of sign languages and deaf culture as provisions for the actualization of the human rights of deaf people.



The International Day of Sign Languages was celebrated in 2018 for the first time as part of the International Week of the Deaf.



The International Week of the Deaf was first commemorated in September 1958 and has since developed into a global movement of deaf unity and concerted advocacy to increase awareness of the troubles deaf people face in their everyday lives.



News Source: United Nations


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