Hrvatski savez gluhih i nagluhih (HSGN) and the Lietuvos kurciuju draugija (LKD) are the national Deaf associations in Croatia and Lithuania that gather more than 17000 deaf and hard of hearing persons. With this project we (HSGN and LKD) wanted to make positive impact both on our organizational scope (project and training management) but also on their educational scope (improving skills and knowledge and acquiring new ones). Also, it was meant to improve collaboration with institutions, sign language interpreters, entities that promote the rights of persons with disability and international partners. The objectives achieved: - Inclusion: deaf people have a more effective sign language interpreting system and service, as well as the same opportunities and rights both personally and professionally as hearing people, including the ability to act as sign language interpreters. - Implemented accessible digital tools for the deaf community, such as educational modules in video format. - Raised the quality of educational material for the training of deaf sign language interpreters. - Reduced disparities between deaf and hearing sign language interpreters. - Increased social and institutional awareness.
The 15 out of 10,000 European citizens are deaf people who use sign language. In Lithuania and Croatia sign language is recognized as mother tongue of the Deaf, which is an independent language with its own grammar. According to the UNCRPD, "Persons with disabilities shall be entitled, on an equal basis with others, to recognition and support of their specific cultural and linguistic identity, including sign languages and deaf culture." but also "Recognizing and promoting the use of sign languages." The activities implemented in this project are based on the UN CRPD and promote the rights of the Deaf. It is mandatory for the Deaf, sign language users, to have the access to sign language interpreter (SLI) so they are included in to the society. To have inclusive society, the Deaf have to have qualified and educated SLI which have to be part of lifelong learning process. It is common to have hearing SLI which is the bridge between deaf and hearing world. Together with hearing SLIs, there are Deaf SLIs that are bridge between Deaf and hearing SLIs. Deaf SLIs are needed in cases when the communication mode of a deaf person is so unique that it cannot be adequately accessed by hearing SLIs.