Bildungskongress 2013 GLB Vienna, July 12-13, 2013Dr Markku JokinenExecutive director, Finnish Association of the DeafPresident of the European Union of the DeafHonorary President of the World Federation of the Deaf

What is common between bilingual education and inclusive education in the light of the
UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities?

Where are we?

Looking and fighting for a status and a place of bilingual education among different discourses, theoretical and practical frameworks, contexts, terminologies, approaches, disciplines, methodologies etc.

Medicine, audiology, phoniatrics, pedaudiology, speech-language pathology, rehabilitation/habilitation, general education, special education, bilingual education, multilingualism, pedagogy, didactics, psychology, developmental psychology, psycho-pedagogy, defectology, surdopedagogy, linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, sociology, language of sociology, Sign Language linguistics, anthropology, Deaf Studies, minority studies and many many more

And human rights framework?

International human rights instruments and standards provide a broad framework for the protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms of all human beings.

Several questions

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)?

How the CRPD sees a group of deaf people?

What elements of Deaf Culture are found in CRPD?

Idea of inclusive education and its relationship to bilingual education?

Reasonable accommodation and accessibility?

Relationship between inclusive and bilingual education?

New challenges to merge/combine previously used constructs and concepts with human rights language

Austria ratified both the convention and the protocol
July 9, 2008.

Civil and political rightsEconomic, social and cultural rightsGeneral articles- purpose, definitions, principles, obligations, equality, non-discriminationWomen and children with disabilities (6 and 7)Situations of risk +humanitarian emergencies (11):Awareness-raising (8)andAccessibility (9)

IMPLEMENTATIONMONITORING

Most important articles for deaf people

Non-discrimination because of language and linguistic rights mentioned in many items of the convention starting from the preamble

Sign language mentioned 7 times in 5 different articles:

Article 2: DefinitionArticle 9: AccessibilityArticle 21: Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to informationArticle 24: EducationArticle 30: Participation in cultural life, recreation leisure and sport

Summary of the main articles

Language includes spoken and signed languages and other forms of non spoken languages. (Article 2)

States Parties shall take appropriate measures to provide professional sign language interpreters (Article 9)

Accepting and facilitating the use of sign languages in official interactions + recognizing and promoting the use of sign languages. (Article 21)

Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community (Article 24)

States Parties shall take appropriate measures to employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language. (Article 24)

Recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture. (Article 30)

LANGUAGEIDENTITYCULTUREDEAFCOMMUNITY

CRPDGroup ofdeaf people

As a part ofdisabilitymovement

As a linguistic and cultural
group

Inclusive education?
Richler & Jokinen, 2012

Article 24 requires that States shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels.

However, no definition of inclusive education in the CRPD

Inclusion requires:

Accessibility

Universal design

Non-discriminatory

Meeting students needs

Reasonable accommodation often mistakenly assumed this is same as inclusive education

Inclusion is likely to be obtainable if learning environments fulfill all these factors for each student.

Learning environment accessible (physical, social, linguistic, cultural)

designed for the students (curriculum,

learning materials, school settings)

non-discriminatory (disability, gender,

language, ethnicity)

- reasonable accommodationindividual support

Students needs

Accessibility (Article 9)?

Where?

Physical environment

Transportation

Information

Communication

Information and communication technologies

Facilities (indoor and outdoor)

Services

Electronic

Emergency

Accessibility

How?

Standards + guidelines

Training for stakeholders

Professional sign language interpreter service, other assistants

Other forms of assistance

Signage in Braille + easy to read and understand format

Accessible information and communication technologies and systems

Design, development, production and distribution (early stage -> minimum cost)

Needs of deaf learners?

Sign language is a fully accessible language

-> to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community (Article 24)

This requires following:

sign language as a language of instruction

sign language as a school subject

bilingual learning materials including elements of deaf culture

qualified teachers and students using sign language

deaf adult cultural models and peer support

development of legislation

3. States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including:

(b) Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;

(c) Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.

4. In order to help ensure the realization of this right, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille

Life and social development skillsFULL AND EQUAL PARTICIPATIONFACILITATING LEARNING OF SIGN LANGUAGE

PROMOTING IDENTITY

MOST APPROPRIATELANGUAGESENVIRONMENTSMAXIMIZINGACADEMIC + SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

TEACHERS QUALIFIED IN SIGN LANGUAGE

Needs of deaf learners?

the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.

for deaf learners this means bilingual or multilingual learning environment (bilingual teachers and learning materials, students and school who know sign language etc.)

Monolingual learning in
an inaccessible language and in an inaccessible learning environment does not maximize academic and social development + does not guarantee full participation!

Does the CRPD say that children that are must go in special education settings?
(Richler & Jokinen, 2012)

No. The ideal is for students to be able to choose a school for the deaf, a bilingual school, a regular school with sign language interpretation services. The choice is based on the students needs.

In the development contextit is important to guarantee that investments are made in building up the learning environments for students who are deaf, blind or deafblind.

For the deaf student this means starting for example with developing language policy and planning strategy for the national sign language (attitude, status, acquisition and corpus planning), preparing and training teachers for bilingual education and developing bilingual learning materials.

Deaf children are:

part of human diversity

entitled to respect for their evolving capacities and respect for their right to preserve their identities

These principles shall include in all spheres of education of deaf children: school legislation, curriculum, learning materials, teacher teaching, school subjects and school practices

full and equal participationaccessibilityreasonable acommodationindividual supportmaximizingacademic and socialdevelopmentinclusionInclusive educationuniversaldesignrespectof diversity

full and equal participationaccessibilityreasonable acommodationindividual supportmaximizingacademic and socialdevelopmentinclusionBilingual educationuniversaldesignrespectof diversity

Inclusiveeducation

Full and equal participation

Identitydevelopmentand support

Trainedprofessionals

Individualsupport

Reasonableaccommodation

Universaldesign

Accessibility

Needs of a student

Learning environment

physical, social and attitudinal

Language and communication

Curriculum

Qualification of teachers, assistants and staff

Learning material

School timetable

School meals

Student support team

Health care

Evaluation

Full participationAccessibilityUniversal designReasonable accommodationIndividualsupportIdentity development and support

LearningenvironmentLanguage and communicationCurriculumTeachers and staffLearningmaterialSchool timetableSchool mealsStudent supportteamHealth careEvaluation

Matrix/check list of inclusive education

Full participationDesign of learningenvironment:accessibility

universal design

Students needs:reasonable accommodation

individual support

Empowerment

LearningenvironmentLanguage and communicationCurriculumTeachers and staffLearningmaterialSchool timetableSchool mealsStudent supportteamHealth careEvaluation

Matrix/check list of inclusive education

2050?

Perspectives of international experts

Professor Ted Supalla, USA

With full recognition and understanding of how sign language works we can be sure that barriers will crumble.

No more grief or fear among parents if sign language is part of universal design. Sign language can be passed on easily across generations once it is considered essential part of humanities (human ecology for language, culture and literature).

Diversity of sign language will be respected and preserved when effective resources and networking efforts ensure support for indigenous sls becoming strong national sls.

With better telecommunication technology we can even expand deaf community into a global village.

Dr Tom Humphries, USA

No more schools, no concept of a teacher

Education will be more global:

deaf people in all parts of the world can learn together using a universal design accessible to all -> learning collectives where we teach each other instead of schools

No more education without sign language!

Professor Kristina Svartholm, Sweden

"My wish for the future is that the Deaf Community by 2050 is still a vital and vivid community open not only to any Deaf person but also to Hard-of-hearing persons that want to share its basic values as encoded in its language, its culture and in its caring for the members world wide.

By then, the fight for Human Rights for the Deaf has won a complete victory. What is left from these struggles is the driving force behind them: respect and consideration towards other human beings."

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