Last May 21, we witnessed an evolution in the field of interpreting in Italian sign language (LIS) in tactile sign language (LIST). The House approved Article 34-ter of the Support Decree, according to which LIS is officially recognized by the state ten years after the 2009 ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The purpose of the Convention is to promote sign language for the ultimate purpose of ensuring total accessibility and allow a full enjoyment of rights and freedoms By people with disabilities.
The National Board of the Deaf (ENS) enjoyed this long-awaited and hard-fought progress, considering it a sign of recognition and inclusion. ENS project manager Amir Zuccalà said how much this norm (although still to be implemented with implementing decrees) means to the category of people with disabilities.
Especially in the amendment article, what stands out is a professional change of lis and list interpreters: both are given legitimized recognition of the professional position they hold in communication. Only a subsequent decree will establish the training paths for access to this kind of profession, since so far the interpreting training in lis was mainly entrusted to private entities-except for some pilot courses conducted by Ca' Foscari University. Paragraph 3 of Article 34-ter defines a more active promotion for sign language, list and captioning interpreting services for all public administrations.
According to 2015 Istat data, there are 8.6 million citizens in Italy with hearing limitations. Sign language is the only language known and mastered by deaf people from birth; it is the only way to communicate with them.
Knowing this language may prove useful in case one prefers to replace acoustic equipment, from which a rather annoying booming sound effect can often be generated. Among the measures requested of the government are the inclusion of plant batteries and equipment prostheses that can be supplied by the Health Service and a service of high quality captioning for television broadcasts.
We saw how under the pandemic, decrees announced telematically by the Prime Minister were always translated with sign language. That little square in the lower right translated for the deaf what had just been enunciated, so as to prevent anyone at home from feeling excluded or bewildered. The Pope promoted the "No one excluded" project, according to which the general audiences and some prayers, such as the Queen of Heaven, will be translated into Italian sign language.
Sign language is universally universal!
The sign language is a language in its own right, with its own grammatical rules and syntax. Tactile sign language, on the other hand, was developed for people who are also blind. Both relatively complicated, they need years of study and of exercise. Suffice it to say that generally for words without a gestural correspondence, such as city names, we proceed with the typing, that is, with a kind of spelling, according to which each letter corresponds to a sign.
What many people wonder is whether there actually is a universal sign language, that is, one that is universally valid for all states, all continents, all nationalities. We hear of Italian sign language, American sign language (American Sign Language, ASL), English Sign Language (British Sign Language, BSL), etc. There are more than 300 sign languages in the world today, as each people and each community has its own and characteristic one.
However, it is also fair to consider the international sign language (ISL, International Sign Language), rather known by the name of sign or gestured. Developed by the World Federation of the Deaf in the 1950s, it enables communication between deaf people even of different nationalities. It consists of a series of purely lexical "international" signs, listed in the volume Gestuno. International Sign Language of the Deaf of 1975 published by the International Commission of Experts of the World Federation of the Deaf.
The step forward made by the Government makes it clear how much credit is given to the figures who, by mastering sign language, are able to convey messages between hearing and non-hearing people. Lis and list interpreters are essential so that your event, your video, your conference does not remain inaccessible to anyone. Adding translation and captioning, and lis interpreting services for your event means showing great humanity and consideration to the deaf category.
International Congresses Press Office
