On May 26th a bill was passed unanimously by the Parliament of Catalonia that recognizes Catalan Sign Language (llengua de signes catalana, LSC) as the Deaf Community’s own language in Catalonia and regulates the rights of use, as well as issues pertaining to its learning, teaching, research and interpeter training. Among other important aspects, it establishes the obligation to provide unbiased information for parents of deaf children, the right to a bilingual curriculum that includes sign language as language of instruction and the organs responsible for the deployment of the law (featuring a Social Council for LSC where representatives from all parties involved will be included). This law was a long-standing goal of the Catalan Deaf Community and it was proposed under the auspices of the Vice-president of the current Catalan Government. Under the supervision of the Secretariat for Language Policy of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the text was drafted by a group of representatives of the Catalan Deaf Community (Federació de Persones Sordes de Catalunya. Plataforma LSC ara!), of the association of parents of Deaf children, of the LSC interpreters’ association, as well as other experts, among whom a member of the current SLLS board.

We congratulate the Catalan Deaf Community on this achievement!

Author: Xavier Prat