[sw-l] Denmark and SignWriting...

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
May 8, 2005

Lucyna Dlugolecka wrote:
> Val, but why did they stop using SW?
> Lucyna

Regarding Denmark...
They did not stop using SignWriting. They are still using it right now
for those who choose to use Danish Sign Language. They use SignWriting
in their Interpreter Training program, and to teach the parents of Deaf
children how to sign etc...And SignWriting is still used in the
classrooms that choose to use some signing...like Bente Sparrevohn's
class...

What they stopped, was their bi-lingual Danish Sign Language program
for Deaf children in the Danish School System - The cochlear implant
was invented, and when it came to be, they thought that Deaf children
did not need any sign language any longer...so the Bi-lingual Deaf
Education program was dropped, or at least placed on hold...

I recently wrote to one of the best bi-lingual teachers in Denmark, and
one of the most skilled Signwriters in our history. Bente Sparrevohn
wrote some of the most beautiful SignWriting on this earth...and you
can see her in this picture with me, while I was visiting one of her
bi-lingual classrooms back in 1984...but Bente today tells me that sign
language is not used much any longer in the school system because of
the cochlear implant, and it makes it hard for her...

In this picture, that is me with the long hair (yes...I had hair
then!), and that is Bente to the left in the picture...and those lovely
Deaf Danish children were all fluent in SignWriting!!


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