Congratulations, Danish Deaf Association!

EUD congratulates the Danish Deaf Association (DDL) on its success towards recognising Danish Sign Language. Although Denmark has several pieces of legislation mentioning its sign language, there is no official recognition of the sign language as such. This is due to the fact that there is no national language law, protecting the Danish spoken language either and has it made very difficult for the Danish Deaf Association to find a way to legally recognise Danish Sign Language. However, the Danish (spoken and written) language is protected by a law governing the Danish Language Council, a council that researches and safeguards the language heritage of Denmark. On 6 November 2013 the opposition party has now – after a long lobbying process by DDL – submitted a legal proposal to include sign language in this law, and thereby placing it on equal footing with the spoken language. If adopted by the parliament, it will take effect in July 2014. 

EUD warmly congratulates DDL on this success and wishes them all the best in achieving their aim of protecting and recognising Danish Sign Language in the same way as the Danish spoken language. EUD also encourages other EU countries that have not yet officially recognised their sign language to continue trying to find ways to include sign language in their legislation, possibly not only in the traditional language laws.

To read more about this (in English) please go here: http://deaf.dk/breaking-news-uk-version

More information can also be found in Danish sign language: http://deaf.dk/nyheder/breaking-news-anerkendelse-af-dansk-tegnsprog

The legal proposal can be accessed here: http://www.ft.dk/samling/20131/lovforslag/L61/index.htm

Danish Deaf Association: http://deaf.dk/

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