[sw-l] Denmark and SignWriting...

[Lucyna Dlugolecka]

> 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!!

Oh, a sad story, indeed... Here in Poland, our government has limited
resources, so few deaf children can get CIs. Unless their parents pay for
it, and it costs 17.000 euro, whereas the average (monthly) salary is about
575 euro... But then, the professor (Henryk Skarzynski) who is one of
several surgeons implanting CIs, demands that the child with CI attend a
mainstream school. But I could see children with CIs also in schools for the
Deaf, and such is the reality...
I wish PJM was recognized and widely accepted in Poland but, on the other
hand, in some 20-30 years most Deaf children of rich countries will not use
any sign language... Because of the CIs and the technology, of course...

Lucyna