| Bulgaria Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria Established: 12.07.1934 Address: 12-14, Str. Denkooglu, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria Contact details: Email: sgb@ibn.bg Fax: (+359) 2 980 16 96 Phone: (+359) 2 980 47 78 Website link: http://www.sgbbg.com
Mission statement of the organisation The Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria (UDB) is registered under the Non - Profit Legal Entities Act. The Union is represented in all communities of the country by their structural units - Regional Organisations and Territorial Organisations of the Deaf - and embraces almost all deaf and hearing-impaired citizens in the Republic of Bulgaria on volunteer principle. It realises its activity in accordance with the Constitution of the country, the acting law and its Statutes. UDB accomplishes its aims by exploring the problems of hearing impaired citizens and assisting before the relevant competent bodies for their resolution, participates with its experts in the elaboration of different legislative documents and acts. UDB encourages, supports and assists hearing-impaired citizens in the country with the purpose to integrate them into society. UDB develops and fulfils programmes for the labour, social, living and cultural rehabilitation, overcoming communication barriers for hearing impaired persons and carries out other concomitant activities looking for ways of funding. The Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria and its structures are acting for the adoption of the hearing impaired persons as equal and equivalent members of society.
Details of the Board The supreme managerial body of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria shall be the General Assembly/Congress of the UDB, consisting of selected by the Regional Organisation delegates. The General Assembly shall select the President of the Union of the Deaf and the members of the Managing Council/Board of UDB. The President of the UDB is Chairman of the GA and member of the Board. The Board of Managers of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria consists of 9 persons - members of the BM. The President of the UDB is one of them by right. The body for the control of the UDB is the Central Control Commission. The BM elects his structural members and the responsible from the members of the BM for the different kinds of activity of UDB. The President of the UDB manages and controls the whole activity of the organization and the meetings of the BM. The Honour members of the UDB are working also in the activity of the Congress. President: Mr. Vassil PANEV Members: Mrs. Raina TOMOVA - Vice-president, Mr. Emil KOSTOV, Mr. Dyan NEDELTCHEV, Mrs. Dimitrya, MOUDEVA, Mr. Alexander ALEXANDROV, Mr. Georges STEFANOV, Mr. Mincho KOTEV, Mr. Simeon KRASTEV - Vice-president
Statistics General Population of your country? (Including hearing people): 7,679,000 Official or approximate figures of the number of Deaf people living in your country? approx. 50,000 (no official statistics) How many people are members of the NAD? N/A How many people are members of the NAD? 8,300 Does your National Association of the Deaf publish any magazine or newsletters for your members? The UDB has its own printing organ - the newspaper "Tishina" is published bi-weekly with information on the life of the hearing impaired in the UDB and also information on the activity of the UDB and important legal documents concerning deaf people; union news and materials for teachers of the deaf. Does your National Association of the Deaf have a Youth section? Yes, it has a Youth Section.
Status of Sign Language Is Sign Language legally recognised as part of your Government's constitution? No, Sign Language is not legally recognised as part of our Government's constitution. Is there any campaign to get the sign language legally recognised? The UDB gave an official proposition to the Bulgarian Parliament for the legal adoption of Sign Language and continues to work on this matter.
Status of Sign Language Interpreters Approximate number of qualified sign language interpreters: approx. 360 Details of training centre/courses: With the Central Council of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria there is the National Consultative and Methodological Centre for Sign Language. It deals with sign language methodology, dictionaries, courses, regulation of the interpreters and etc. Every year there are courses for new sign language interpreters in the 12 Regional Organisation of UDB. The short courses are for 3 months - for beginners and for interpreters - there are studies for 3 years. In our country we have an Association of the Sign language interpreters which helps a lot our members of UDB. In accordance with the Law for the integration of the people with disabilities and the Regulations for his implementation, every hearing impaired person which has 50% loss of work capability, has the right of 10 hours per year of interpreter's services. These hours are paid by the budget of the Agency for the people with disabilities and with the help of UDB and in its regional centres we provide the interpreter's services. The Bulgarian National television broadcasts a programme for the deaf twice a month and the news are interpreted into sign language every day at 4pm.
Technology Does your country provide Video Interpreting Service? Yes, we can provide Video Interpreting Service.
Deaf centre/clubs How many deaf centres/clubs? Every regional organisation of UDB has a club - 48 overall Details of the deaf centre/clubs: The clubs have rich programme of cultural and other activities.
Universities/Sign Language Units Are there any Universities that deals with Sign Language? (Deaf Studies, Linguistics, Interpreting) There are no any studies in Sign Language. The deaf students are studying in different universities and there are no conditions to teach in SL. In some cases the students are taking SL interpreters. Students learn SL independently, not in a formal setting.
Deaf Schools Number of Deaf Schools: In Bulgaria there are three schools for hearing impaired children - in Sofia, Plovdiv and Targovichte. Special attention is given to integrated education of the hearing impaired children which helps them integrate into the wider society. One of the main goals of the UDB is to introduce sign language as a helping instrument for learning. There are some classes which are especially for deaf children. Education method (Sign Language, Oral or other methods): The Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria has developed rehabilitation centres for deaf children under 3 for more than 30 years. There are now 5 special rooms with specialists and appliance. The UDB covers all costs for this.
History of the NAD The first Society of the Deaf-Mute in Bulgaria, was established in 1934 and started its activity in times of hard economic crisis, unemployment and hunger. It set as its main purpose to unite all non-hearing persons, to protect their cultural and material interests. But in the first years of its existence it didn't fully succeed in accomplishing these goals due to the hard situation of the country. Having more than 200 members, the society carried out limited organisational work, partial philanthropic activity and was only able to survive thanks to the enthusiasm of its founders. In the years following 1944, the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria, becoming the successor of the Society of the Deaf-Mute, started to develop large-scaled activities in the areas of organisational work, manufacturing and economy, social life and living conditions, culture and education, sports and tourism. Nowadays UDB has about 8,300 members organised in 12 Regional Organisations in the cities: Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Pleven, Haskovo, Yambol, Dupnitsa, Russe, Stara Zagora, Gorna Oriahovitsa and Shumen and 156 Territorial and Primary Organizations in smaller towns. UDB carries on the activities on rehabilitation and social integration of hearing-impaired persons and cares for their social development, assists them in their educational and intellectual growth, carries on multilateral organisational, cultural, publishing and tourist activities. UDB maintains financially the one and only Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Centre in Bulgaria for children from 0 to 3 years of age with 5 offices in different cities around the country. The Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria is a Full Member of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and of the EUD and works in close co-operation with similar organisations on the Balkans. Establishing its own economic activity is one of the accomplishments of the Union, which is the owner of 13 manufacturing enterprises (factories) called "Tih Trud" (Silent Labour). They are located in 13 cities around Bulgaria: Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Pleven, Haskovo, Yambol, Dupnitsa, Russe, Stara Zagora, Gorna Oriahovitsa, Shumen and Lom. There activities include the manufacturing of clothing, knitting, plastic processing, printing, and cardboard, furniture making, electromagnetic valves and an electric lamps, shoe making, mattresses, non-standard metal constructions, industrial painting, etc. In January 1999 the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria established its 14th company "Tishina-14" Ltd., having as a main purpose to provide tourist services. In 2003 the Union opened a Home for elderly Deaf persons at the Stara Zagora Mineral Spa resort and in Sofia established a "Medical Technical Laboratory - UDB" LTD where hearing-impaired dental technicians work. The social policy of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria for decades has been accomplishing a number of advantages for its members. A lot of them have privately owned apartments and special attention is paid to the socially disadvantaged members. The cultural traditions are as old as the Union itself. The first pantomime group was formed in the 1930's. Step by step, each Regional Society forms amateur arts groups and we have set up a tradition to organise National UDB Art Festivals every two years (with a few exceptions). In recent years Deaf artists through participation in concerts and a number of TV shows gained popularity in society as talented hearing-impaired performers. In 1997 the first Bulgarian Sign language dictionarywas printed with more than 3,000 words. We succeeded in obtaining SL interpretation of the news. Channel 1 of Bulgarian National TV presents the Specialized TV programme for hearing impaired persons. The Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria has wide international relations and one of the greatest testimonies for us was when UDB was approved to host the 8th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf in Varna. The fact that the President of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria has been holding the Vice-presidency of the World Federation of the Deaf for more than 24 years, and now he is a WFD Honorary member fills us with pride. In the hard times of political and economic changes in the country, despite the proposal of Comité International des Sports des Sourds (CISS) to renounce from this commitment, we hosted the 17th World Games for the Deaf in Sofia in 1993 and we were acknowledged for our courage. The Union management found sponsors, organised and conducted the Games brilliantly and won the respect of international and Bulgarian society. The strategy of the Union of the Deaf in Bulgaria is prompted by the new conditions in the country and continuously makes efforts to demonstrate to society that hearing-impaired people can serve society. UDB will continue to actively insist and fight that Deaf person's rights are respected, for full access to information and communication through contemporary technical and communicative means, for the fulfilment of UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Rights for People with Disabilities, for a fair social legislation. In June 2007 the ХVІІІ European Deaf Club Championships of chess were held at the hotel "Tishina", that featured deaf chess players from 16 countries. Who are the most important people in your country's history?
Last updated: 25 January 2010 |
