Felag heyrnarlausra

Established: 1960
Full member of EUD since: 2005

Address: Sudurlandsbraut 24, 108 Reykjavik, Iceland

Contact details:

Email: deaf@deaf.is

Fax: (+354) 551 3567

Phone:  (+354) 561 3560

Website link: http://www.deaf.is

Mission statement of the organisation

The Icelandic Association of the Deaf was founded on 11 February 1960. The goal of the association is to guard, promote and fight for the rights and well-being of the Deaf and hard of hearing in Iceland. One of the priorities of the associatoin is to improve the quality of life of the members of the association, fight for equal opportunities and support attempts to break the social isolation of Deaf and hard of hearing people. Hoping that these goals will be realised the association supports and initiates social events, offers consultation and supplies information when asked for. 

Details of the Board             

President: Hjordis Anna Haraldsdottir (D)

Board Members: Haukur Vilhjalmsson (D) - Elsa Bjornsdottir (D) - Kristin Fridriksdottir (D) - Heiddis Eiriksdottir (HoH)

Details of the Staff

Executive Director: Dadi Hreinsson (H)

Other staff: Valdis Osp Ivarsdottir (H) - Laila Arnthorsdottir (H) - Brynja Jonsdottir (H) - Anna Jona Larusdottir (D)

Statistics

General Population of your country? (Including hearing people) 300,000

Official or approximate figures of the number of Deaf people living in your country? 250

Official or approximate numbers of Deaf people who use sign language as their primary language? 250

How many people are members of the NAD? 180

Does your National Association of the Deaf publish any magazine or newsletters for your members? Yes, once to twice per year

Does your National Association of the Deaf have a youth section? Yes

Status of Sign Language

Is Sign Language legally recognised as part of your Government's constitution? It has not been recognised yet.

Is there any campaign to get the sign language legally recognised? 15 policticians have submited a bill for the recognition of sign language.

Status of Sign Language Interpreters

Approximate number of qualified sign language interpreters: 16

Details of training centre/courses: 3 years at university

Technology

Does your country provide Video Interpreting Service? Not yet, but under construction

If not, when will it be implemented? In the next few months if there are no technical difficulties.

Deaf centre/clubs

How many deaf centres/clubs? 1

Universities/Sign Language Units

Are there any universities that deal with Sign Language? (Deaf Studies, Linguistics, Interpreting) No

Deaf Schools

Number of Deaf Schools: 1

Education method (Sign Language, Oral or other methods): Sign language for Deaf students, mixed (oral/sign language) for hard of hearing and students with a CI.

At the moment the main goals of the association are:

• to gain recognition of Icelandic Sign Language as the mother tongue of the Deaf people of Iceland; a struggle that has lasted for years
• to sponsor an adult education program that will improve the accessibility for the deaf people to the labor market besides providing continuous education
• to create jobs for deaf people
• to operate an information center for Deaf parents of hearing children
• to advocate that all Icelandic programs on the Icelandic television be subtitled
• to ensure that all the available technical aids for Deaf people are in fact always available to them and that the Government sponsors them

Get the Flash Player to see this player.