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Deaf signers with immigration and refugee backgrounds in Europe: Short Interviews

Background information

While many of the 46 Council of Europe Member States have recognised the indigenous sign language/s of their countries, significant gaps exist with regard to how sign languages are accessed, and language deprivation is an ongoing concern. For deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) refugees and migrants in Europe, there are significant and specific concerns around what languages – signed and written/spoken – deaf refugees and migrants gain access to in their host countries and what (if any) supports are in place to support their home language/s and/or their national or regional sign languages.

Interviews – an initiative of the DeafSign project 

The DeafSign project team is currently carrying out short interviews which will enable the team to overview the insights of deaf immigrants/refugees/service providers and researchers in selected countries that are members of the Council of Europe. 

The following topics are examined: 

  1. Deaf EU immigrant and their sign language learning opportunities
  2. Deaf refugees in selected CoE countries and their sign language learning opportunities
  3. Service providers providing sign language learning opportunities of Deaf signers with immigration and refugee backgrounds
  4. Researchers describing sign language learning opportunities of Deaf signers with immigration and refugee backgrounds 

The short interviews will be made available in International Sign (with English translation) on the ECML DeafSign project page www.ecml.at/DeafSign by April 2025 and contain three core questions (1. Experiences of sign language opportunities, 2. Institutional support and 3. Recommendations). 

At the ECML workshop in May 2025, the summary of the short interviews will be shared with the participants.

Invitation to participate in an online survey to document support for deaf signers with immigration and refugee backgrounds in Europe

Background 

While many of the 46 Council of Europe Member States have recognised the indigenous sign language/s of their countries, significant gaps exist with regard to how sign languages are accessed, and language deprivation is an ongoing concern. For deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) refugees and migrants in Europe, there are significant and specific concerns around what languages – signed and written/spoken – deaf refugees and migrants gain access to in their host countries and what (if any) supports are in place to support their home language/s and/or their national or regional sign languages.

Aims of the survey 

This survey will help the DeafSign team to document the level of support available to deaf and hard of hearing refugees and migrants across the countries that are members of the Council of Europe. The team wants to learn about the ways in which such support for deaf and hard of hearing refugees and migrants is put in place by governmental and non-governmental organisations and identify any gaps that exist.

Target group of the survey 

Policy makers researchers and administrators in the educational sector as well as deaf associations and professional associations with focus on sign language learning opportunities for deaf refugees and migrants.

Format and data security

The survey is available in English and International Sign and contains 12 questions presented under 4 headings: 

  1.  About your organisation 
  2. Legislation
  3. Policy
  4. Resources 

Any and all information from this survey will be anonymised to ensure that respondents’ identities remain confidential. Only anonymised, aggregated data will be shared with the European Centre for Modern Languages/Council of Europe and in any presentations or publications.
Research ethics approval was secured for this study from Trinity College Dublin’s School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences in 2024. 

Survey deadline : 4 April 2025 

At the ECML workshop in May 2025, first results from the survey will be shared with the participants. 

Please access the survey here.