Nothing about us without us.
Nothing about us without us.
29 out of 31 European countries have achieved recognition of their national sign language through a legal instrument adopted by their legislature.
Across the 31 European countries examined, 17 include provisions recognising the refusal of national sign languages as a discrimination on the grounds of language.
4 European countries out of 31 have expressly recognised that the NSL and/or the deaf culture and/or the cultural and linguistic identity of the deaf community is preserved as part of the national cultural heritage.
In 24 of the 31 European countries, deaf learners have the right to be educated in their national sign language
In 24 of the 31 European countries, national sign language is offered as a subject for deaf learners, often within special education settings, and is a right protected by a legal instrument.
In 29 of the 31 European countries, the provision of professional sign language interpretation is ensured through legal and/or regulatory frameworks.
In 30 of the 31 European countries, national laws and/or regulations contain provisions safeguarding accessibility in national sign languages of information and services provided by public authorities
Only 14 of the 31 European countries have a dedicated national sign language council or board, to monitor the implementation of sign language rights at the national level.
The evaluation of the national legal frameworks on sign language rights across 31 European countries results in the following total scores, reflecting the extent to which each national framework fulfils the eight criteria for comprehensive and effective sign language rights.
