WASLI Spain 2007 WASLI Country Reports 2005 THE WORLD ASSOCIATION OF SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS Country Reports WASLI is committed to the advancement of sign language Interpreting world wide November 2005 WASLI Country Reports Issue 1 - November 2005 by Nigel Cleaver In readiness for the inaugural WASLI Conference in South Africa 2005 coun- Country Reports tries were asked to provide a report telling the world about the situation in their Arab Federation of the Deaf 2 country. Information that was thought to Argentina 4 Australia 5 be useful included- what was the popula- Austria 4 tion? How many Deaf people are there? Brazil 13 Is the indigenous sign language recog- Cameroon 14 nised as an official language of the coun- Canada 15 try? How many sign language interpreters Denmark 16 are there? Is there a National Association England, Wales & N. I. 16 of Sign Language Interpreters and what Estonia 17 training facilities are there? Finland 17 Germany 19 As WASLI is committed to advance sign Hong Kong 21 language interpreting world wide this in- Japan 21 formation is important as it provides not Kenya 22 only an accurate picture of where we are Lithuania 23 today but enables us to plan partnership Madagascar 23 work, share resources and later identify Malaysia 24 growth and development. Netherlands 25 Nigeria 26 As you will see not every country was Palestine 26 able to respond in time though those Scotland 28 that did provide a fascinating picture of South Africa 28 the sign language interpreting profession Spain 29 in the world today. Some reports came Tanzania 31 from Interpreter Associations, some from Uganda 32 Deaf Associations, others from both indi- USA 33 vidual hearing and Deaf interpreters. It is hoped that in ensuing years more countries can contribute to this valuable resource and begin to take part in the fur- ther dissemination of good practice. 1 Please forward this WASLI Document to as many people as possible WASLI Spain 2007 WASLI Country Reports 2005 ARAB Federation for band. Many deaf prefer to marry a deaf lished standard rules for institutions and spouse for easy communication. Saudi programs of special education to pro- the Deaf By Hend Al Showaier Sign Language was influenced by other tect the Deaf and hard of hearing peo- Arab sign Languages like Egyptian Sign ple. These standard rules include modi- Language. Egyptian teachers used to fications and changes to suit Deaf and work in Saudi Deaf schools; therefore, hard of hearing environment, various they have spread Egyptian Sign Lan- method of communication with the guage which has become mixed by Deaf and hard of hearing people, assis- Saudi Sign Language. Nowadays, Saudi tive listening devices, individual educa- November 2005 This report is a reflection of my own teachers have replaced Egyptians in tion program, … etc. TS personal information and experience teaching the Deaf in Deaf schools. Disabled protection code which include about the situation of sign language Finger spelling is also used in Deaf all aspects of psychology, social life, interpreters and Arabic Sign Language schools. Arab countries started to use educational, medical, … etc. in Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries. Finger spelling system in 2001 (Dr. Al Providing jobs to the Deaf and hard of Based on my work with the Deaf and Turki); therefore, old Deaf people do hearing just like hearing people. Ac- Y REPOR hard of hearing people at the Saudi not know it, so they do not use it. This cording to the Saudi law, each govern- Association for the Deaf as well as vari- system is usually used by young Deaf mental administration is required to ous discussions with many Deaf and especially in Deaf schools. Some Deaf, assign at least 2% of its employment to hard of hearing people and sign lan- especially hard of hearing people rely disabled people. In Saudi Arabia there guage interpreters from different Arab on lip reading in addition to signs that is a legislation that promotes the hiring COUNTR countries. I would like to thank all those are established within each individuals of individuals with disabilities. The who provided me with valuable infor- home setting. three-for-one legislation, that hiring an Arabic language is the spoken language individual with disability counts as three ASLI mation regarding the Deaf and Sign in Saudi Arabia and all over the Arab Saudis in the Saudiazation scheme. W Language Interpreters in the Arab countries. Although all the Arab coun- world: tries speak the same language, Arabic Laws about interpreters, language, but each country has its own In Saudi Arabia as well as in all Arab A. Arab Deaf: Hanan Mohsen (Egypt). dialect. countries currently there are no laws Amal Wali and her colleagues: Sanaa Al about interpreters. Ghoul, Rasheed Alhashmi, Monsif Az Types of education available to Aldeen, Abdul Ghani Al Zaazaa, and Deaf people: Overview of what is happening in Reem Al Zaazaa (Tunisia).Ali Al Qa- In Saudi Arabia as well as in the Arab the Arab countries: treefi (Yemen). countries in general there are eight dif- Saudi authorities as well as Arab coun- ferent types of education available to tries realized the importance of sign the Deaf and hard of hearing people language in Deaf education. The Arab B. Hearing people: Dr. Yousif Al Turki, Director of the these include: Federation of the Deaf has accom- Deaf department – Ministry of Educa- plished a study about the Arabic Sign tion (Saudi Arabia). Residential schools. Language, finger spelling, and numbers Day schools. in Arabic which was approved by the Sameer Semreen & Naji Zakarenah, rd sign language interpreters Special program classes in mainstream 3 Educational Symposium of the Arab (Jordan).Mohammed Al Banaali, schools. Federation of the Deaf in 1984. sign language interpreter (Qatar). Full Integrated Program. Resources room program. In 2001 the Arab Federation of the Ambulatory teaching program. Deaf approved the Unification of the Facts about the Deaf in Saudi Ara- Advisor teacher program. Arabic Sign Language Dictionary to be bia and the Arab countries: Saudi Deaf are estimated to be more Studying in colleges and universities. used by all the Arab countries. 16 Arab than 80,000. Unfortunately, I do not countries contributed to this Unified have the exact number of the Deaf and Types of jobs Deaf people hold: Arabic Sign Language Dictionary in- hard of hearing in the Arab World. Deaf education is mostly vocational cluding Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia training, thus, Deaf and hard of hear- the CD for the Unified Arabic Sign There is a need for a concerted efforts by the research community and gov- ing people in Saudi Arabia and in the Language Dictionary is distributing for ernments to assess the state and/or Arab countries as well hold different free by the institute of Al Amal for the numbers of the Deaf and hard of hear- types of jobs. They work as systems Deaf to encourage hearing people to ing people in the Arab world. analyzers, librarians, air conditioner learn sign language. In Saudi Arabia Deaf people use Saudi maintenance, administrative workers, Sign Language. Signs differ from region manual labor, arts, crafts, … and the Training sessions in Arabic Sign Lan- to region, also some signs used by the like. In 2001 the Saudi government guage are held from time to time in the male Deaf community are different issued a decree to allow the Deaf and Arab countries to encourage hearing than the ones the female Deaf commu- hard of hearing people to enroll in col- people to learn sign language. There nity use, because our society is conser- leges and universities. In 2004 Deaf are some good and qualified Sign Lan- vative, and males and females are sepa- and hard of hearing enrolled in the guage Interpreters, yet, they are few rated. In spite of these differences in colleges officially for the first time. and scattered around the Arab coun- signs, Deaf people can communicate tries. Most of the interpreters do not with each other without any problem Protection of Deaf rights: get proper training. They mostly learn using sign language, body language Saudi Arabia as well as Arab countries sign language through their deaf family gestures, and facial expressions. When a did not overlook Deaf services. The and relatives, or through their work male deaf marries a female deaf, the Ministries of Education in Saudi Arabia with the Deaf. wife learns the signs used by her hus- and the Arab countries have estab- 2 Please forward this WASLI Document to as many people as possible WASLI Spain 2007 WASLI Country Reports 2005 Our future plan is to set a code for sign have future plans to make a four years Saudi Arabia is working on a new pro- language interpreters to abide by the training program at the university level. ject that will benefit the Muslims all laws, as well as set professional training Prince Salman Center for Disability over the world. This project is interpret- programs to prepare and train hearing Research will conduct in the near future ing the Holy Qur’an in Sign Language. people to be qualified interpreters. I a survey, and then write a proposal to King Fahad Complex for the Printing of the have written a code for sign language Saudi authorities to indicate the impor- Holy Qur’an is the one responsible for interpreters and sent it to Shaikha Ja- tance of establishing such a program. this project. meela Al Qasimi of United Arab Emir- ates, the first supporter for the Deaf in Testing system for qualified inter- The second workshop for Unified Ara- the Arab world, to present it to the preters: bic Sign Language Dictionary will be Arab Federation of the Deaf to approve Unfortunately, in all Arab countries held in Qatar after few months.