September 23 is recognised as the International Day of Sign Languages. Informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, the day has been celebrated since 2018.
Every year, it is preceded by the International Week of the Deaf, which was first celebrated in September 1958 and has since evolved into a global movement of deaf unity and concerted advocacy to raise awareness of the issues deaf people face in their everyday lives.
This year’s theme is "A World Where Deaf People Everywhere Can Sign Anywhere!”
ALSO READ: Sign language in courts: What does it mean?
The UN General Assembly has proclaimed September 23 as the International Day of Sign Languages in order to raise awareness of the importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of people who are deaf.
More than 300 different sign languages
During the 2023 celebration of the International Day of Sign Languages, the world will once again highlight the unity generated by our sign languages, according to the UN.
ALSO READ: Plans underway to distribute Rwandan Sign Language Dictionary
According to the World Federation of the Deaf, there are more than 70 million deaf people worldwide. More than 80 per cent of them live in developing countries. Collectively, they use more than 300 different sign languages.
Shining a blue light on sign languages
Sign languages are fully fledged natural languages, structurally distinct from the spoken languages. There is also an international sign language, which is used by deaf people in international meetings and informally when travelling and socializing.
It is considered a pidgin form of sign language that is not as complex as natural sign languages and has a limited lexicon.
ALSO READ: Five challenges that people with disabilities need addressed
The World Federation of the Deaf invites all public places, public landmarks and official buildings, and others to be spotlighted in blue light on September 23.
By highlighting the blue colour on their buildings and landmarks is a reaffirmation of our joint commitment to supporting national sign languages and showing solidarity with global Deaf communities.
The proposal for sign languages day came from the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), a federation of 135 national associations of deaf people, representing approximately 70 million deaf people’s human rights worldwide.
The choice of September 23 commemorates the date that the WFD was established in 1951. This day marks the birth of an advocacy organization that has, as one of its main goals, the preservation of sign languages and deaf culture as prerequisites to the realization of the human rights of deaf people.