Juliet England: Should the deaf community have its own flag?

Flags have a lot associated with them. It’s not that long since St George’s Day and the annual popping up of the red cross on white background across England. 

Meanwhile, over in Northern Ireland, in Lisburn near Belfast, flags have actually been removed by the authorities on the grounds that they could cause sectarian tension. So they can stir up strong feelings.

The LGBT community  has, of course, long had its ubiquitous rainbow symbol. And it’s been more visible than ever this Pride month, as organisations from train companies to building societies adopt it.

But could or should the deaf community too have its own standard?

When someone asked this very question on a Facebook group, the response was certainly lively.

Helen Sente commented: “It’s a start … Get a flag, form a group, then hit the streets on Deaf Awareness Week!”

Meanwhile, Jan Dixon added: “An official symbol, i.e. logo, would be brilliant and professional and would become an icon that people would recognise everywhere. I’m all for that.”

It’s true that there is already the ear logo, the universal symbol for hearing assistance. It lets people know that a venue is fitted with an induction loop.

However, clearly, people need to be trained – and have to remember to switch the loop on. I remember once asking at a train station what the sticker meant (just testing, I’m annoying like that) and the staff member had no idea what the symbol even signified.

One hopes thing would be better now. But it would be interesting to know how many ordinary members of the public could identify the ear symbol and sum up its meaning accurately.

Equally, of course, there are already various logos for things like the Deaflympics, while charities working in the arena of deafness and hearing loss have their own symbols, as do organisations such as the European Union of the Deaf.

In fact, there is already a flag of sorts. French artist Arnaud Balard, who is deafblind, designed his Sign Union ensign as a unifying symbol for the global signing community. The idea was that if you saw someone bearing this standard in a crowd, you would know immediately that that person could communicate with you.

The flag shows a royal blue hand against a darker background of the same shade, while the fingers, stretching across the flag in a similar way to the crosses of the UK’s union flag, are rimmed with gold. (Admittedly, it probably looks more like an actual flag than other assorted logos or emblems for the deaf.)

You can see it at the top of this article.

It was the result of two years of work. And, back in 2015, he told Limping Chicken:

“It’s time for us to choose an emblem, and be proud of our rich Deaf communities and show it to the world. It’s time for us to have a strong symbol.”

Noble aims indeed. However, a vote on adopting the flag was rejected by the World Deaf Federation (WDF) back in July 2019, at a meeting of the organisation’s General Assembly. The motion had been put forward by French delegates, but was thrown out by a majority of 47 votes to 31.

Dr Robert Adams, an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University, and member of the WDF’s sign language and deaf studies expert group, said in a tweet at the time:

“Surprisingly – this proposal was not supported. A WFD expert group will continue to work on this issue.”

A similar motion had previously been rejected at a WFD general assembly meeting in Istanbul.

So it would seem that the deaf community can’t agree on a single symbol to represent itself for now. But is it something we really need? After all, deaf people have managed perfectly well for hundreds of years without a flag. And I perhaps tend to agree with Mervyn’s comments on Facebook that we have other priorities to focus on.

No doubt the debate will rumble on at the WFD. And it’s true that the LGBT community has, with its rainbow, created a symbol that’s widely known and used and which everyone recognises. But is it even physically possible to encapsulate such a richly diverse and varied group as the deaf, around the world, in a single flag or image?

RNID says: “As far as we know this is not something that has been raised as a need or want with the charity before. It’s an interesting idea and we’d be fascinated to know what the community has to say about it. ”

So what do you think? Would you be flying the deaf flag proudly if we could all agree on one?