Deaf and Disability Studies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Testing the Social Model of Disability

Testing the Social Model of Disability The United Nations and Language Access for Deaf People Soya Mori Keywords Activism; Audism; Education; Language; Location; Oral history; Organizations In the 1980s, the United Nations (UN) sponsored both a Year of the Disabled Persons (1981) and a Decade of Disabled Persons (1983–1992). These events represented an important shift in the organization’s attention to issues of human rights for the largest minority in the world: people with disabilities. Since that time, representatives at the UN have engaged in active campaigns and discussions to expand protections for disabled citizens around the world, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted in 2006.1 Although the Convention and other initiatives from the UN reflect an important commitment to social justice, significant barriers are inherent in the processes and structure of this global organization. Historically, the most vivid gap between the UN’s practices and its principles of social justice, collaboration , and inclusion is found in interpreter services, or lack thereof. Although Deaf people reside in every country represented at the UN, and many individuals have sought to participate in both national and global meetings on issues of rights, they cannot gain basic access to these meetings. This is certainly true at the national level in many countries, where sign language interpreter services typically are not offered. But it is also the case at the UN headquarters in New York City and at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand. 235 236 Soya Mori The United Nations recognizes the fundamental importance of communication access to achieve its mission, as evidenced by its support of six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. There are key benefits to those who know an official language. For example, the UN commits to translating all of its official written documents and all official discussions at UN conferences into these six languages. All of these official languages, however, are spoken languages, not signed ones, thereby barring the Deaf from full communication access. Even if Deaf people are fluent in written forms of these languages, their access is then limited to written documents; they still lack equal access to the discussions during UN meetings. The lack of recognition of signed languages and sign language services ultimately excludes Deaf people from meaningful engagement at the UN even as the organization fosters global attention to access as a human right. Global Deaf leaders have attempted to address this issue individually as well as collaboratively. For example, the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), a non-governmental organization founded in 1951, enjoys consultative status with the United Nations. This means that the WFD may participate in various UN meetings and programs and consult with UN members on issues relevant to the group. When presenters from the WFD attend UN conventions, they use either International Sign or their nation’s sign language, and their presentations are interpreted into the six official, spoken languages. Deaf individuals must arrange for their interpreters by themselves, however. Although the presence of sign language interpreters resolves the basic problem of communication access, the cost of interpreting fees and the logistical aspects of arranging for a personal interpreter remain. Compare this policy with that for the official spoken languages: The UN covers all expenses for interpretation and translation in those languages, and the budget for interpretation and translation is covered by each member country through their regular contributions to the UN. The expansive bureaucracy of the UN makes it particularly difficult to rectify the financial burden placed on deaf participants even when organizational staff and member nations support the principle of equal access. Even seemingly straightforward solutions, such as adding a new budget item for sign language interpreter services, remain untenable. Consequently, half-measures to address the language-cost barriers have predominated. For Testing the Social Model of Disability 237 example, in recent years, administrators at the UN have attempted to cover the fee for sign language interpreters using the organization’s preexisting standard budget framework. The budget item used for sign language interpreter payments is “miscellaneous.” Covering interpreter services through the “miscellaneous” budget line has reduced some of the burden WFD participants previously faced in their work with the UN. However, this policy has significant limitations that expose the unequal status of Deaf participants. Particularly since the 1990s, UN-sponsored conferences on disability have...