International Sign Language Day 2020.

First time Celebrated in the year:

The International Day of Sign Languages, along with the International Deaf Week festivities, is held annually on September 23.

 It was being celebrated in 1958 first time and has since grown into a global deaf unification movement that focuses on raising awareness of the value of sign language as a medium of communication and the complete realisation of the human rights of individuals who are deaf.

On December 19, 2017, the World Federation of the Deaf first made the proposal for this day. September 23 is a significant date in itself, as it marks the day on which the World Deaf Federation was first founded in 1951. 

This day is especially important because it provides the opportunity to ‘promote and preserve the linguistic identity and cultural diversity with all deaf people and other users of sign languages.

‘ There are about 72 million deaf people in the world, according to data collected by the World Deaf Federation, and over 300 distinct sign languages are used by them.

While sign languages are fundamentally structurally different from spoken languages, they are, even in their many forms, full-fledged natural languages. 

There is a global sign language on a global scale that is used for official meetings or even while travelling and socialising informally.

The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities accepts the use of sign language and promotes it. It also acknowledges that sign languages are completely equal to the languages spoken. For the growth and development of deaf people, early access to sign language, like the quality of education available in sign language, is important.

 “It acknowledges the importance of maintaining sign languages as part of linguistic and cultural diversity,” according to the United Nations.

The World Federation of the Deaf has released a ‘Global Leaders Challenge’ for the year 2020, which is designed to encourage the use of sign language by local, national, and global leaders in collaboration with each country’s national association of deaf people.