Equality Issues

Deaf communities globally often identify the status of their signed languages as one of the defining indicators of their social standings. Thus, social justice measures, including aims for societal equality, must be intertwined with the status of signed languages. It is pertinent to understand the differing societal attitudes toward signed languages and the manner in which such attitudes come to bear on the status of those languages.

For Deaf communities worldwide, their indigenous signed languages and cultures are the mainstay of those communities. It would be a huge mistake to treat a signed language as an entity that can be replaced or substituted by a spoken language. Signed languages are often the source of innate experiences for Deaf people, allowing many Deaf people to develop a ...