Linguistic and Human Rights, Constitutional Recognitions of

Sign languages across the world have been researched and acknowledged as full-fledged languages in academia since the 1980s. However, the legal recognition of sign languages has gained momentum only after 1995 and is still an ongoing process in many countries. Because of the complex nature of the Deaf community’s position within society, which places them at the intersection of disability, language, and minority, legal recognition of sign language is not a straightforward issue. The legal documents in which sign languages are mentioned and recognized are therefore diverse: They range from constitutions to disability-specific legislation, separate sign language acts and educational policies, criminal procedure law, and media regulations, among others. Some pieces of legislation make the national sign language an official language of the country, next to other (minority) languages (such as is the case in New Zealand); others recognize sign language as an authentic language but do not give it official status (e.g., Austria); while others mention it as a language of instruction in school (e.g., Portugal). [Page 587]Some legal documents mention a specific national sign language in the form acknowledged by the local Deaf community (e.g., New Zealand Sign Language), whereas others mention sign language as a generic term (e.g., Ecuador) or explicitly mention the presence of more than one sign language (e.g., separate sign language acts in Spain for Spanish and Catalan Sign Languages).

Constitutional recognition is widely seen as the most prestigious form of protecting and respecting sign language, although this is not an indicator of equality or accessibility for the individual Deaf person. Across the globe, 10 countries have explicitly mentioned sign language in their national constitutions. A constitution is a set of fundamental principles governing a given state and defining the way sovereign power is exercised. This can be a single document (written constitution) or several pieces of legislation and primary judgments (unwritten constitution).

When Deaf people finally began fighting for equal rights in an organized manner, empowering themselves and demanding their human rights, that sign languages became more visible and were gradually enshrined in legislation. In a similar manner to the women’s rights movement, Deaf associations often took the lead in negotiating with national and regional governments and policy-makers. Traditionally, countries with one or more Deaf political representatives and a more inclusive political participation strategy show stronger legal protection of their national sign languages, although practical implementation does not wholly depend on the legal status of the sign language.

The combination of human rights and language rights is not unique to the Deaf community. Linguistic human rights, a term coined by Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, represents a concept that specifies the importance of the rights of minority groups, especially with regard to their mother tongues and the language or languages used in the surrounding (majority) society. For Deaf people, this includes the right to their mother tongue or tongues or one or more national sign languages. The understanding that sign languages must be protected in more than one way has enhanced their further legal protection. Undoubtedly, a contributing factor was that many countries across the world have now ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the first international human rights instrument to mention sign language explicitly. The high numbers of ratifications of the UNCRPD, including by the European Union (EU), has led to the further advancement of the recognition of sign languages.

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