New Zealand: Right to Sign - Sign Language Week Kicks Off May 5

[Harold Schiffman]

Forwarded From: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


Scoop Independent News



Right to Sign - Sign Language Week Kicks Off May 5



"The Freedom to Sign is Our Freedom of Expression" is the slogan for the
second annual New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) week, which kicks off May 5
with events around the country. National Coordinator of NZSL Week Angela
Lindsay says, "This year, the purpose is to raise public awareness that NZSL
also gives Deaf people a voice." The right to use New Zealand Sign Language
(NZSL) is now recognised by the New Zealand government and the United
Nations, but a shortage of interpreters could mean deaf people cannot
exercise that right.

Currently there is a shortage of NZSL interpreters and Auckland University
of Technology (AUT) is the only tertiary institute that offers a Diploma in
Sign Language Interpreting. Its five to eight graduating interpreters are
not enough to serve the 7,000 people who are Deaf and who use NZSL.



Full story:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0805/S00030.htm




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Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone: (215) 898-7475
Fax: (215) 573-2138

Email: haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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