Sign language interpretation services are on the brink of collapse, according to the Deaf People Association, which says the government was warned a year ago.
The sign-based deaf community was at the point of being denied proper access to education, hospital services, justice and interaction with society because the government failed to address the problem, the association said.
A “tiny resourceless NGO”, the association has been struggling against all odds to provide the service ever since it employed an interpreter at the turn of the century.
A financing agreement, which the association was reluctant to sign in 2011 and which, it said, proved to be impracticable, came to an end last December. By that time, the association had already given six months’ notice of its intention not to renew the agreement. As an emergency measure, the agreement was extended up to March but no solution was found.
“At the moment, the service is only being provided purely out of the goodwill of the interpreters themselves and of the association, whose funds have run out. Barring some last-minute miracle, the service will collapse in the coming days.
“A very half-hearted attempt at a new solution was made towards the end of last year, through the services of a mediator who, unfortunately, has no idea of the problems of deafness and the role interpretation plays in their solution. His proposal was dead in the water and rejected out-of-hand,” the association said.
Calling on human rights lawyers to contact it about the issue, the association said the government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, making professional sign language interpretation among other services an undeniable right.
Meanwhile the National Commission for People with a Disability yesterday welcomed President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca’s initiative to print her business cards in Braille.
It urged other entities to follow suit, noting that accessibility was not limited to pavements and buildings but included education, employment, services and information given to the public.