| Finland The Finnish Association of the Deaf
Established: 1905 Address: Ilkantie 4, 00400 Helsinki, Finland Email: kuurojenliitto@kl-deaf.fi Fax: (+358) 9 5803 770 Phone: (+358) 9 580 31 Website link: http://www.kl-deaf.fi
Mission statement of the organisation The Finnish Association of the Deaf is an advocacy, expert and service organisation. FAD - in co-operation with other organisations - develops a living space suitable for all, where Deaf sign language users are equal citizens, too. The association provides expert and other services for sign language and sign-supported communication users as well as others who need these services.
Details of the Board President: Jaana Keski-Levijoki Board Members: Jaana Aaltonen, Tiina Eskelinen, Johan Hedrén, Tiina Jaakola, Sanna Lehti, Sirpa Lehtinen, Katja Merentie, Heikki Sandholm, Håkan Westerholm (all Deaf) Details of the Staff Executive Director: Markku Jokinen (D) Other staff: 110 persons, of which 38 % are Deaf
Statistics General Population of your country? (Including hearing people) 5.3 million Official or approximate figures of the number of Deaf people living in your country? About 5,000 Official or approximate numbers of Deaf people who use sign language as their primary language? Probably less than 5,000 How many people are members of the NAD? 4,170 Does your National Association of the Deaf publish any magazine or newsletters for your members? Yes. Kuurojen lehti -magazine (6 volumes/year) Does your National Association of the Deaf have Youth section? Yes.
Status of Sign Language (Pikke) Is Sign Language legally recognised as part of your Government's constitution? Yes. The Constitution of Finland (731/1999), Section 17 - Rights to one's language and culture. The national languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. The right of everyone to use his or her own language, either Finnish or Swedish, before courts of law and other authorities, and to receive official documents in that language, shall be guaranteed by an Act. The public authorities shall provide for the cultural and societal needs of the Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking populations of the country on an equal basis. The Sami, as an indigenous people, as well as the Roma and other groups, have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture. Provisions on the right of the Sami to use the Sami language before authorities are laid down by an Act. The rights of persons using sign language and of persons in need of interpretation or translation aid owing to disability shall be guaranteed by an Act. The corner stone of the status of Finnish Sign Language was laid in 1995, when the section regarding language rights of the renewed provisions of the fundamental law of the Finnish Constitution gave the protection of the law for those using the sign language. Recognising the status of Sign Language in the Constitution was a big step towards achieving linguistic equality, and it had a significance of principle for the sign language using community. The people using sign language were conceived now for the first as a linguistic and cultural group. An international comparison shows that Finland was the second country in the world, after Uganda, where the national sign language was recognised on a constitutional level. The modified constitution obliges the public authorities to take active measures in order to ensure that sign language users have the opportunity to use their own language and to develop their own culture. The obligation of making sure means first and foremost enacting laws, and some steps forward have already been taken in that respect after 1995. In these new legal provisions, an analogy has usually been drawn between sign language and the two minority languages spoken in Finland; the Sami and the Romany languages. FAD is about to publish a Sign Language Policy Paper including demands for several public authorities.
Finnish Law on Interpreting Services for Persons with Disabilities
This spring (2010) the Finnish Parliament is discussing the new legislative proposal for interpreting services for the persons with disabilities (i.e. Deaf, Deafblind, hard of hearing and deafened persons, and persons with severe speech disorders). The proposed law is a globally unique one: it might be the first stand-alone, full law in the world which is specifically dedicated to providing and ensuring interpreting services for these afore mentioned groups. Previously, the interpreting services were covered by only one paragraph in the Finnish Disability Act and have been funded by local municipalities since the late 1970s until now. The clients were granted approximately 120-180 hours/year of interpreting services free of charge. At the moment this service is being transferred to the shoulders of the State. The new “home” of these services is Kela - The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, which will be acquiring the services by sub-contracts from the service providers (i.e. mainly private interpreting agencies). In addition, there will be five regional booking centres. The service is free of charge for the Deaf and others who have the right to use it (i.e. who have applied for this service and were granted it from their municipality, and in future from Kela). This law has yet to be adopted, and it is to enter into force 1 September 2010.
The main characteristics of the law are that it ensures a minimum of 180 hours of interpreting per year for the Deaf, the hard of hearing and the deafened, and a minimum of 360 hours of interpreting per year for the Deafblind. Although the law pronounces a minimum level of service provision, it also articulates that additional hours can be applied for and granted when needed. The right to use interpreting services also covers travelling abroad for business, pleasure or studies etc. as part of everyday life.
Educational interpreting needs to be applied for separately. On this matter the law states that educational interpreting has to be provided to the extent needed for the person to be able to finish his/her studies within the (time) frame defined in curriculum. These hours will not be included in the community interpreting hours.
The law emphasizes the individual needs of the client regarding the kind of interpreting s/he needs, thus focusing on the client’s needs and not those of the service providers. The service providers need to take into consideration the wishes of the client regarding whom to use as interpreter, what kind of interpreting s/he requires, etc. One aspect in the law is also remote interpreting. The new law obliges Kela/SIIF to provide all customers with the necessary equipments, programmes, and cover the internet connection costs etc. needed to use this service mode.
Status of Sign Language Interpreters Approximate number of qualified sign language interpreters: There are appr. 820 interpreters (according to the Sign Language Interpreter Register) Details of training centre/courses: 4 year full-time studies (BA level, 240 ECTS) in SLI programmes in two different institutes (three different cities). The first training courses started 30 years ago. MA level studies began in 2009. Institutes:
Technology Does your country provide Video Interpreting Service? Currently there is no nationwide 24/7 Video Interpreting Service in Finland. There have been several projects that have examined and tested the use of the video phone for sign language interpreting, and some local interpreting centres offer remote sign language interpretation during 1-to-3-hour on-call duty periods on working days. If not, when will it be implemented? The Ministry of Social Affairs implemented a national project called Etätulkki.fi (2007-2009; http://www.etatulkki.fi) whose objective it is to improve and establish an accessible national video interpreting service in Finland.
Deaf centre/clubs How many deaf centres/clubs? 42 Details of the deaf centre/clubs: All of them are either local or regional clubs that are members of FAD
Universities/Sign Language Units Are there any universities that deal with Sign Language? (Deaf Studies, Linguistics, Interpreting)
Deaf Schools Number of Deaf Schools: About ten (some schools do not offer separate classes for Deaf pupils - they have lessons to together with hard of hearing etc. pupils). Education method (Sign Language, Oral or other methods): For the reason mentioned above: both SL and other methods are used.
History of the NAD Finnish Association of the Deaf-mute was founded in 1905, the first Deaf Club in Turku was already founded in 1886. The establishment of FAD serves as a manifestation of the will of the Finnish deaf community. The deaf clubs had a desire for co-operation. They had clear social goals and the desire to improve their own status in society. The first two general meetings set objectives that included arranging further education for the deaf community and improving the position of deaf people in working life. For more information see: Salmi, Eeva & Laakso Mikko: Maahan lämpimään - Suomen viittomakielisten historia (2005) English title: Summary: The History of the Finnish Sign Language community
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Last updated: 26 January 2010 |
