The World Federation of the Deaf recently released their Position Paper on the Right to Sign Language for Families of Deaf Children.
The Position Paper provides five recommendations for governments – all helpful for ongoing advocacy for Auslan services for children and families who chose a multi-lingual sign language pathway :
- Recommendation 1: Recognise that national/Indigenous sign languages are a health need and a right for deaf children and their families/carers from early childhood onwards, and undertake the necessary measures to implement this right in the national/regional legislation, policies and public services.
- Recommendation 2: Develop national government policies, programs and support systems ensuring the provision of free sign language courses to all families and carers of deaf children in early intervention and facilitating their participation through insurance schemes covering their work and/or care responsibilities.
- Recommendation 3: Provide training to health care providers and early intervention services on the importance of sign language in early childhood, build their connections with deaf communities, and ensure they are equipped with the necessary tools and resources to support families and carers and their deaf child in their ongoing sign language development.
- Recommendation 4: Facilitate, enable and support the involvement of deaf communities and deaf professionals in the health care and early intervention services by ensuring deaf professionals and educators are part of first-response teams, providing deaf-led services and facilitating contact between families and carers of deaf children and deaf role models in the deaf community.
- Recommendation 5: Recognize the necessity of connecting health and education services aimed to guarantee optimal development for deaf children by prioritising, building, and nurturing multilingual, sign language-rich spaces that cater to the linguistic and cultural needs of deaf children and their families/carers.
