The World Federation of the Deaf was founded on 23 September 1951. This federation is made up of deaf organizations from 135 countries, Which represents about 7 crore deaf people in the world. With the aim of increasing people’s awareness on the importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of the deaf, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 23 September as International Sign Language Day. The first International Sign Language Day started in the year 2018.
23 September – World Sign Language Day
For self-expression, i.e. to express oneself, to convey one’s meaning, instead of communicating through audible sound medium, the language communicated in visible form through symbolic medium, i.e. manual communication, body gestures is called sign language, i.e. the language of gestures, i.e. symbolic language. In this, the shape, configuration and movement of the hand, the expressions of the arms or the body and the face are used together by the speaker to express his thoughts fluently. This type of sign language has been used since ancient times in India during wars etc. to convey information to people sitting far away, etc.
Stories of confidential information being conveyed to loved ones in a symbolic form by protecting it from the enemy by making a special kind of sound or playing a special musical instrument in a special style or by hoisting a flag, etc. are found in abundance in ancient Indian texts. In India, since ancient times, manual communication or sign languages have been used at religious, sectarian places like monasteries, temples, ashrams, etc., noisy workplaces, war sites, hunting and other secret, confidential works, where the use of conversation is forbidden or not permitted.
In many parts of India, primitive tribes residing in forest-hills and plain areas, who have different oral languages, use sign language developed by them for various purposes. Unlike other sign languages developed by hearing people, this is similar to the local grammar of deaf sign languages. But at present, sign language is being used only to communicate among the community of deaf and mute people.
Actually it is natural and instinctive that people who do not have the power of sound (voice) i.e. tongue also try to signal by moving their hands, head and other parts of the body when they want to express their thoughts to each other. Mute people are often seen doing this. Deaf-mute people have also been seen communicating by gestures for the purpose of business transactions. They can also do this through the movement of lips.
To impart proficiency in such arts, educational methods related to reduction of letters and teaching speech to mute people have also been developed. A method of oral education for deaf people has been established by using manual signs in the form of manual alphabet to assist and improve the communication of mute or deaf people through signs. Hundreds of sign languages are prevalent in this world locally and traditionally and are used by local deaf groups. Some sign languages have even achieved a kind of legal recognition.
In modern history, most sign languages have developed around schools for deaf students. In 1755, the Abbe de Lépée founded the first school for deaf children in Paris. Laurent Clerc was a well-known graduate of that school. In 1817, Clerc accompanied Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet to the United States to establish the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. Gallaudet’s son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, founded a school for the deaf in Washington, D.C. in 1857, which became the National Deaf-Mute College in 1864. It is now known as Gallaudet University and is renowned worldwide as the only liberal arts university for deaf people. But it is also seen that sign systems sometimes develop within the same family.
When a child of hearing parents with no knowledge of sign language skills becomes deaf, an informal home system of signs naturally develops in the home. Such home sign communication methods arise due to the absence of any other means. Over a single lifetime and without the support of the community, the child naturally invents signs to meet his communication needs. However, such a system is inadequate overall for the intellectual development of the child and in no way meets the standard normally set by linguists to define a complete language.
No type of domestic sign is recognized as an official language. But it is also true that since the beginning of human existence, sign or gesture has been an important component of oral languages. And elaborate systems of manual communication are still being developed in places or situations where conversation is not practical or not permitted. At present, limited but defined signs are used by religious, sectarian communities in monasteries, temples, ashrams, scuba diving, television or cinema recording studios, noisy workplaces, stock markets, baseball, hunting groups, in the game of charades, in rugby union by referees to communicate their decisions to the audience. Due to these characteristics of sign language, there is a trend in many families today to teach and encourage sign language to young children even before they learn to speak.
This is because some children are able to communicate effectively through sign languages even before they start speaking verbally. Children with other causes such as speech loss or speech delay, who are not deaf or hard of hearing, are seen using sign languages to gain effective communication without relying on speech. Parents of such children arrange sign language education for their children. A deaf sign language is adopted by the entire local community at events organised for the deaf or at events where deaf people are present in large numbers.
The deaf community is widely spread across the world. And the culture present among them is very rich. The World Union of the Deaf, an organization that advocates the preservation of the sign language prevalent among them and the culture of the deaf, was founded on 23 September 1951. This union is made up of deaf organizations from 135 countries, which represent about 7 crore deaf people of the world. With the aim of increasing people’s awareness about the importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of the deaf, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 23 September as International Sign Language Day. The first International Sign Language Day started in the year 2018.
According to the World Federation of the Deaf, about 80 percent of the world’s deaf people live in developing countries. Yet in today’s world, which advocates harmony among people, the deaf group is a vulnerable group in society. Although the deaf group has received care and support from various governmental and non-governmental organizations of the society and their condition and life have improved to some extent. But due to their problems and prejudices, it is still difficult, troublesome and full of difficulties for deaf people to actually achieve equality and participate in society.
In this situation, it has become imperative to understand, learn and promote sign language to help deaf people find employment and become independent, participate equally in socialist modernization and contribute to economic development, and integrate them into the mainstream. This can not only enrich their language, but also help deaf people better participate and integrate into society. Sign language for deaf people is the carrier and core of deaf culture and the basis of deaf identity. Sign language for hearing people can prove to be helpful in smooth exchange and building harmonious social relations between both deaf and hearing groups.