Sign language council to be set up to advise government

A sign language council will be set up to advise the government on issues related to the enhancement and promotion of Maltese sign language.

“The government doesn’t want disabled people to imply be on the receiving end of policies, but we want them to collaborate and participate in the creation of laws that will ultimately impact them,” parliamentary secretary for the disabled Justyne Caruana said during the second reading of a Bill for the recognition of Maltese sign language as an official language. “Governments in the past had conducted promotional exercises to promote sign language, but this law will finally recognize it as a language.

The council will be composed of five sign language experts, including at least one deaf person. It will also be tasked with evaluating and coordinating the work of deaf peoples’ associations to create further synergy within the community.  

“The setting up of this council proves that this law will not only be a symbol of the recognition of deaf people, but a way to combat the discrimination faced by deaf people,” Caruana said. “Sign language is the bridge through which deaf people can communicate with the rest of society, and the Deaf Peoples’ Association have highlighted the non-recognition of sign language as an official language.”  

However, shadow social solidarity minister Paula Mifsud Bonnici criticised the Bill for stating that the Minister for Social Solidarity will appoint the five council board members.

“If the council will be created to advise the minister, then why will the minister herself get to appoint them?” Mifsud Bonnici questioned. “Like it or not, the loyalty of these people will first and foremost be to the minister and not to the deaf community.”

She also said that at least three of the five people in the council should be deaf, and accused Caruana of not consulting with the deaf community prior to writing this Bill.

“Why aren’t the Deaf People’s Association mentioned at all in this draft?” she questioned.

Caruana responded by hitting out at the previous Nationalist administration.

“It was this government that made it compulsory for disabled people to sit on government boards, and not the previous one,” she said. “How can you have the face to criticize us for not including disabled people?”

The Bill proposes that the state promote this language as comprehensively as possible, through government boards, education, political and social activities, and the media. Caruana also highlighted that it speaks of sign language in its cultural terms as well as in its lingual terms.

“I hadn’t always known about this cultural aspect to sign language but deaf people have told me that it exists within their community,” she said.

A report on the law will be carried out every two years and the law will be updated accordingly.

“We don’t want to introduce a static law, but one that evolves according to the times and the needs of the deaf community. This is an important step, but is one that will place us on a path to further progress.”

She accused the previous administration of not creating training schemes to encourage more people to become interpreters.

“There are only four interpreters on the island,” she pointed out, while adding that the Education Ministry is working towards creating new interpreter training courses.

“Unfortunately, the interpreters recently cancelled a service-agreement through which they provided the government with four interpreters,” Caruana said. “Two of them ended up resigning to take up new posts and I couldn’t force them to stay.”

MP Robert Cutajar said that the interpreters resigned because the government’s contracts weren’t favourable enough     

 “You bought the services of interpreters and placed them on self-employed contracts when you should have guaranteed them employment,” Cutajar said.

Caruana retorted by saying that the previous administration had not even signed any service agreements for the provision of interpreters.