Juliet England: FIFA, a TV star and human rights activists mark International Day of Sign Languages

Sunday 23rd September was the International Day of Sign Languages, the first such event of its kind, kicking off International Week of the Deaf.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) used the day to say that access to sign language, especially in terms of education and public services, is vital for deaf people’s human rights. 

Also, HRW aims to make its own work more accessible to deaf people in future, interpreting its publications in sign language videos.

The International Day of Sign Languages was launched by the UN’s General Assembly, in a bid to raise public consciousness of sign languages’ central importance to fundamental human rights, in a move commended by the World Federation of the Deaf and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

HRW says that, in some countries in Africa, and others including Iran and Russia, the communication barrier has a negative impact on deaf citizens’ right to health and other key services.

Meanwhile in Canada, there have been rallies calling on the federal government to recognise sign languages among the country’s official national tongues. The sign languages in question here include Indigenous, Quebec and American variants.

On a lighter note, US TV’s Nyle DiMarco, he of America’s Next Top Model and the US version of Strictly Come Dancing, has described in an interview how sign language has helped him engage with the world and understand it.

DiMarco won Dancing with the Stars in 2016, using visual signals to communicate with dancefloor partner Peta Murgatroyd. But the Gallaudet University graduate doesn’t just knock out a mean cha-cha – he’s also a committed activist for deaf rights.

Sign language also came onto the soccer field this year, for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. With a TV audience of three billion, 32 nations took part in 64 games in 11 host cities across four different time zones during the month-long tournament.

And, to mark September 23 and International Day of Sign Languages, FIFA issued a reminder of the way it produced summaries of all 64 matches in International Sign Language.

The global governing body of association football said in a statement: “This gave some 70 million people who are deaf or hard of hearing around the globe the opportunity to see all the action unfold.”

The organisation has made a video revealing how the signed highlights were tailored to the worldwide deaf and hard of hearing community, and how they were made at Zurich’s House of Football.

Plus, for die-hard fans, there is the chance to relive all 64 games in International Sign Language.

In the explanatory video, members of the four-strong FIFA interpretation team explain their individual roles in making the sign language support possible. Production manager Stanko Pavlica discusses how the team coordinated with journalists and FIFA, and mentions the technology used.

Video technician Senad Sopnic discusses his role, and how highlights of the game were interpreted in sign language, and emailed back to him as a script, which he then put together with the footage of the games and edited.

In the film, a commentator also describes the challenges of conveying the finer details of a game precisely using signs. While ‘He scored!’ may work for spoken language, for example, it’s harder to interpret something like this exactly via sign language.

Meanwhile, a presenter ends the video by stressing the respect the team had for individual nations’ signs, for example for names of players. They made sure these were used where possible.

And, as with the commentator, the presenter mentions the challenges, for instance in conveying some of the journalistic idiom that oral reporters on matches use – although sign language is, she says, a more ‘three-dimensional’ way of reporting a game, so in some ways it’s actually a great medium to use for commentating and conveying the excitement of the match.

All in all, an insightful look at how the deaf enjoyed this summer’s World Cup – and, thankfully, there’s no mention of England’s semi-final against Croatia. We don’t talk about that.

Read more of Juliet’s articles for us here.

Juliet England does freelance social media and PR work for cSeeker.