TThe project "City Tours in Sign Language" will be available to all deaf people, persons with a cochlear implant, hearing impaired and hearing people with sign language competences, this is a further step towards true accessibility. The goal is to equip cities, first in the German-speaking world with further deaf partnerships throughout Europe with deaf leaders, to plan trainings and to professionalize as many guided tours as possible in order to strengthen the independence of the deaf community. The requirement for visual language is great, but there are still far too few opportunities in Europe for sign language users without elaborate appointment agreements with sign language interpreters at cultural events such as a city tour. Annoying cost-taking procedures, who the sign language interpreter can use at the desired time often prevent the participation in the cultural offer. The project aim is to make it possible to offer a normal, equivalent guide for people with hearing impairment. To ensure that as many sign language users as possible can participate in the guided tours, the guided tours are also supported by the international sign language. Even after the end of the project, the respective city associations will pay attention to the results of the guided city tours in sign language in order to guarantee a sustainability. Through this project, not only background knowledge and education of the deaf people will be founded, but the labor market will also benefit in this context. Equal opportunities and inclusion, not least the potential of the deaf people, must be encouraged and encouraged.
The project "City Tours in Sign Language" was initially embedded in a context of few and little-connected adult education opportunities in the Alpine region. Over the duration of the project, we were able to achieve a more intensive dissemination and networking of knowledge resources and good practice experiences. Existing partnerships have been supplemented by new impulses and a forum of deaf adult educators could be created, which conveys content in sign language. Due to the political structures and requirements of some partner associations, the initial goal of the project to train and qualify City Tour guides could not be implemented exactly as planned. Therefore, the objective shifted and cultural offers and knowledge units of the individual partner associations were promoted. In addition, the circle of those who benefit from the project has expanded considerably. The innermost circle included members of the partner associations, which benefited directly from LTTA and meetings. The partner associations carried the experienced into their own associations and multiplied the adult education units through lectures, events or city tours on site. In the final instance, all interested signers can benefit from the long-term output of the project fixed on the homepage of the Network of Deaf City Associations e.V. Information and learning units are offered here, reflecting the work and actions of the LTTA in the form of sign language learning videos and reports on the course of the project. The participants were mainly deaf people from the Alpine region. With a view to a future pan-European perspective in sign language adult education, this local containment provided a good and important starting point. From there on, the networking and knowledge centralisation can be expanded onto other EU countries. It was particularly pleasing to see that the training units and project activities reached a wide audience. They were not exclusively aimed at an educational elite, but found their appeal in various levels and groups within the deaf community. Thus, the core objectives of the network and the project, equal opportunities and inclusion, not least the potential of deaf people to be promoted, have been taken a major step forward.