June 5, 2016
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2016 June 1 - 7 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]
Hearing-impaired persons need more sign-language interpreters |
The Japanese Communist Party is promoting a campaign calling for the enactment of a “sign language law” together with people with hearing impairments. At local assemblies across the country, JCP assemblypersons have called on local authorities to offer regular positions to sign-language interpreters and fulfill the public responsibility to provide adequate services for the hearing impaired.
The UN Treaty on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was revised in 2006, designates sign language as an official language. In 2011, ahead of ratifying the UN treaty, Japan also amended the Basic Law for Persons with Disability to recognize sign language as an official language.
Japanese Federation of the Deaf (JFD) Vice President Konaka Eiichi said to Sunday Akahata, “The amendment to the basic law is just a start. We have been campaigning for the enactment of a sign language law since 2010. Our goal is to create an environment where hearing-impaired persons can freely communicate through sign language in their daily lives.”
Currently, municipal authorities provide the service of dispatching sign-language interpreters. However, some municipalities do not allow the hearing impaired to use interpreters in places other than schools, public offices, and medical institutions. Of the sign-language interpreters working for local governments, only 30% have open-ended contracts. A majority of sign-language interpreters in the nation are working a few days a week on fixed-term contracts.
Konaka said, “TV networks include closed captioning in the case of a disaster, but it is totally insufficient. In such cases, authorities should require them to offer detailed relevant information to the hearing impaired by using sign-language interpreters and continuing to display subtitles.” He added, “People with hearing disorders cannot hear the announcements on disaster radio stations and PA systems at emergency shelters. In the event of a disaster, it is necessary to check if there are hearing-impaired persons in that area and rush interpreters there. We’ll continue to work for the early enactment of a sign language law.”
By the end of March 2016, all the 1,788 local assemblies in the country adopted statements pushing for the introduction of a sign language act. The number of local governments enacting a sign language ordinance is on the rise.
Past related article:
> Audio Sunday Akahata, the torch blazing the path for the visually-challenged [June 14, 2015]
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