On 25 May members of the deaf community in Ireland staged a protest outside the Italian embassy against the proposal by their national parliament to withhold full language status from Italian Sign Language.
Opponents of a bill to recognise LIS (Lingua Italiana del Segni) threw a spanner in the works and succeeded in a change that replaces the wording with LMG (Linguacca Mimetico Gesturo), a language of mimes and gestures.
The change effectively reduces the status of Italian Sign Language and demeans its users. It also makes it difficult for deaf people to assert their rights as citizens through LIS.
The vigil was a part of worldwide solidarity movement expressed by deaf communities in cities such as Belfast, Edinburgh, London, Berlin, Madrid and Washington DC.
As a part of the Dublin protest, a letter of complaint submitted to the Italian embassy was returned unopened. It’s understood that Italian embassies in both Britain and Spain accepted similar letters. Members of the Irish deaf community found this act both insulting and have demanded an explanation.
Many have made note of the irony of the Italian parliament’s actions in the same week that US President Barack Obama made the sign for ‘I love you’ to the audience during his state visit to Ireland. Alongside him, Irish President Mary McAleese also signed effortlessly.
About 40,000 people use Irish Sign Language in this country, and occurrences such as what is happening in Italy have serious ramifications on our own campaign to have Irish sign language (ISL) recognised as a full and official language.
In my letter to the Italian ambassador to Ireland on behalf of the Irish Deaf Society, I made note of the infamous congress on deaf education in 1880, which called for the regression of signed languages the world over. The effects of that conference are still felt worldwide, and the ‘Milan Conference’ is a constant theme in deaf and cultural studies to this day. I put it to the Italians: surely your country does not want to add to this notorious legacy?
Dr John Bosco Conama is spokesperson for the Irish Deaf Society.
