Antw: UN consultation on disability inclusion--the perspective of deaf people and sign language linguists is needed

Tue Mar 26 07:18:06 UTC 2013

Dear Albert,

Maybe I'm to silly, but after having created my account, I could not
find an overview concerning the consultation, just found one question
and then two others elsewhere. Can anyone help?

Related to the consultation: To put one very important point, namely
language development: doctors, speech therapists etc. signal a potential
big problem if a hearing child does not reach the 50 words limit with 2
years of age and demand urgent action not to create language and
cognition delays or deficits. For deaf children there is no such effort.
On the contrary: Many "experts" tell the parents: "Just wait, language
will emerge some time later". We have to overcome this split thinking:
Also deaf children have the right to develop their language in the same
life period as hearing children do. As long as we do not reach this goal
of "language development for deaf children in the sensible phases",
there will be massive developmental delays.
To put another analogy which is not taken up to now: All linguists
stress the importance of allowing/assisting migrant children in using
and developing also their mother/family language for their future
identity and language competences. But this is not taken earnest for
deaf children: They are kept away from sign language which they could
(not must!) choose as their mother or preferred language. So they are
also broken in identity as they are only forced to accept that they will
be less good spoken language users for their whole life.

Best Regards

Franz Dotter

Center for Sign Language and Deaf Communication, University of
Klagenfurt
Additionally funded by: Provincial government of Carinthia
Head: Franz Dotter (hearing)
Collaborators: Elisabeth Bergmeister (deaf), Silke Bornholdt (deaf), 
Luzia Gansinger (hearing), Simone Greiner-Ogris (hearing) Andrea Grilz
(hearing, on maternity leave), Christian Hausch (deaf), Marlene
Hilzensauer (hearing), Klaudia Krammer (hearing), Christine Kulterer
(hearing), Andrea Lackner (hearing), Anita Pirker (deaf), Nathalie
Slavicek (hard of hearing), Natalie Unterberger (deaf)
Administration: Friederike Wieser (hearing)
Homepage: http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/zgh
Deaf server (in German): http://deaf.uni-klu.ac.at
Fax: ++43 (0)463 2700 992891 (Elisabeth Bergmeister), /992892 (Silke
Bornholdt), /992893 (Christian Hausch), /992894 (Anita Pirker), /992895
(Nathalie Slavicek), /992896 (Natalie Unterberger), /992802 (Friederike
Wieser)
Phone: ++43 (0)463 2700 /2821 (Franz Dotter),/2823 (Marlene
Hilzensauer), /2824 (Klaudia Krammer), /2829 (Christine Kulterer), /2802
(Friederike Wieser)
Email addresses: firstname.lastname at uni-klu.ac.at

>>> "Albert Bickford" <albert_bickford at SIL.ORG> 3/25/2013 5:36 >>>
Dear colleagues:

(Before you get upset about the use of the word "disabled" on this
email list, please read on!)

I have just become aware that the UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (UNDESA) and UNICEF are beginning preparations for a high-level
meeting on disability and development this September.  They have
organized an online forum for preliminary discussion of the matter.  So
far, the special perspective of deaf people and sign language linguists
has not been represented.  As a result, there is a distinct possibility
that approaches and strategies proposed for persons with disabilities
generally may be misapplied to deaf people, ignoring the crucial role
that sign language plays in the lives of deaf people and deaf
communities.  

I believe that people on this forum may want to express their views in
the online consultation that is currently taking place.  See the email
quoted below for details on how to participate.

Please note that discussion closes in just a couple days, so if you
want to say something, act now.

-- 

Albert Bickford
SIL International
  Linguistic Services Coordinator, Global Sign Languages Team
  Director, SIL-UND

Please use different email addresses for different topics:
  sign languages: linguistic_services_gslt at sil.org  SIL-UND:
director_silund at sil.org  other: albert_bickford at sil.org 

late May through early August: 
  2901 University Ave Stop 8217, Grand Forks ND 58202; 701-777-0575
mid-August through mid-May: 
  16131 N. Vernon Dr., Tucson AZ 85739; 520-825-1229

-------
Dear members of the WorldWeWant2015.org ( http://worldwewant2015.org/ )
website,

In many countries, the realization of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) has not been achieved for persons with disabilities. This clearly
highlights the importance of ensuring that development processes are
inclusive of persons with disabilities and their perspectives for the
still ongoing efforts to accelerate and expand progress on the MDGs and
in the definition of the new development framework that will succeed the
MDGs, after 2015. 

On 23 September 2013, the UN General Assembly will hold a High-level
Meeting on disability and development, with the overarching theme “The
way forward: a disability-inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and
beyond”, at UN Headquarters in New York.   

To ensure that the post-2015 agenda is inclusive of disability, the UN
Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with UNICEF
is holding an online moderated consultation to gather views from a broad
range of stakeholders on how to include disability in the post-2015
development framework, in order to contribute to the ongoing work for
the High-level Meeting.

Building on the earlier online discussion on “Addressing Inequalities
and Persons with Disabilities in the Post-2015 development agenda”, held
on this site in November (read the summary report here (
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=64945919&msgid=483543&act=M3EP&c=1000518&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwewant2015.org%2Fnode%2F304822%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DInequalities%3A%20WorldWeWant2015%26utm_content%3D
):http://www.worldwewant2015.org/node/304822 (
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=64945919&msgid=483543&act=M3EP&c=1000518&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwewant2015.org%2Fnode%2F304822%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DInequalities%3A%20WorldWeWant2015%26utm_content%3D
)) this consultation aims to take a closer look at the particular
challenges faced by per! sons with disabilities in different regions,
and identify the specific measures and actions to be taken by different
stakeholders to promote a disability-inclusive society and development.

In this context, we would like to invite you take part in this online
consultation, starting on 8 March and running for three weeks until 28
March.

To participate, please visit the site www.worldwewant2015.org/enable (
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=64945919&msgid=483543&act=M3EP&c=1000518&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwewant2015.org%2Fenable%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DInequalities%3A%20WorldWeWant2015%26utm_content%3D
) and log-in or register here (
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=64945919&msgid=483543&act=M3EP&c=1000518&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwewant2015.org%2Fregister%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DInequalities%3A%20WorldWeWant2015%26utm_content%3D
) (http://www.worldwewant2015.org/register (
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=64945919&msgid=483543&act=M3EP&c=1000518&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwewant2015.org%2Fregister%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DInequalities%3A%20W%21%20orldWeWant2015%26utm_content%3D
)). Simultaneous consultations will take place in English, Arabic,
Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.  The site is
compatible with screen readers, however, if you are unable to access the
site, please email your response to:enable at worldwewant2015.org.  Please
note that the forum is moderated, therefore your post will not appear
immediately but will be posted within twenty-four hours.

The recommendations emerging from your contributions will be
incorporated into a report on the consultations to inform the
preparation of the outcome document for the UN High-level Meeting on 23
September 2013.

The consultation aims to be as broad and open as possible, in order to
enable a multitude of voices to be heard from Governments, UN system
organizations, academia, media, private sector and civil society
organizations, including persons with disabilities and their
organizations (DPOs).

Please invite your colleagues, partners and networks to participate!

Warm regards,

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and
UNICEF in collaboration with the United Nations Promoting the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD)

Contact: enable at worldwewant2015.org

Discussion web site: http://www.worldwewant2015.org/enable (
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=64945919&msgid=483543&act=M3EP&c=1000518&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwewant2015.org%2Fenable%3Futm_source%3DiContact%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DInequalities%3A%20WorldWeWant2015%26utm_content%3D
)

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