This September 23, the world celebrated the International Day of Sign Languages, proclaimed by the UN in November 2017 to commemorate the creation of the World Federation of the Deaf, in 1951, a non-governmental organization with consultative status to the United Nations and the highest world authority for the defense of the rights and interests of people with hearing impairment.

This international entity, known in English as the World Federation of the Deaf, is made up of 135 national associations of the deaf that represent approximately 70 million deaf people around the world.

In Cuba, about 52,660 people have some hearing disability, according to data from two years ago from Minsap.

This global event is celebrated in conjunction with the International Week of the Deaf Person (from September 23-29), with the essential purpose of promoting the social inclusion of sign language users with a view to the full realization of their rights.

This is an effort that articulates in a very coherent way with the efforts and actions to continue eliminating inequalities according to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the 2030 Agenda.

Thanks to the commemoration of this International Day, sign languages have achieved greater positioning and priority from the implementation of policies, plans, programs and projects deployed in various countries to improve the education of people with hearing functional diversity.

Sign language is recognized as a natural language and first language of the deaf community in 77 nations, 18 of them in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

Thus, as a trend, members of this community have been given greater and better access to information and basic services, even in developing countries, where there were previously few non-governmental organizations specialized in the subject.

The motto for the celebrations of this 2024 is: "Defend the rights of sign languages." It’s a significant opportunity to protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of deaf people and other users of sign languages.

The different sign languages differ in the set of gestural signs and in grammar.

In Cuba

Founded on January 3, 1978, the National Association of the Deaf of Cuba (ANSOC for its acronym in Spanish), is a non-governmental organization with its own legal and economic personality, of a permanent national character and officially recognized as an association by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Cuba, in accordance with Law 54, Law of Associations.

Currently, ANSOC has about 27,379 members and its mission is to serve the Deaf Community of our country, working for their greater integration into society, to improve their quality of life, and serving as a mediator with government institutions, social and mass organizations in the materialization of the desires, interests and needs of its members.

There’s also, among other institutions related to this community, a National Center for the Improvement and Development of the Deaf (CENDSOR for its acronym in Spanish), created on May 23, 2008 for the training of instructors and interpreters of Cuban Sign Language (CSL).

Among the Government's projections for 2024, Manuel Marrero Cruz, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party and Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba, in the Second Ordinary Period of Sessions of the National Assembly of People's Power in its 10th Legislature, announced on December 20 that "in 2024 we will officially recognize Cuban sign language as the natural language of the country's deaf community."

Cuban Sign Language (CSL) was introduced as a pedagogical alternative in schools for deaf children, starting in 1994. According to the article Contribution to Special Education: Cuban sign language and its teaching in deaf schoolchildren, published at the beginning of this year by the Varela Magazine of the Central University of Las Villas, Cuban Sign Language (CSL) is a natural language, distinct from the Cuban variant of Spanish, and has its own grammatical and syntactical rules.

Thanks to sign language interpreters, the deaf community in Cuba can be informed of national and international events. Photo: Youtube screenshot

On September 17, the Council of State approved the Decree Law "On Cuban Sign Language", whose purpose is to regulate the recognition and use of Cuban Sign Language as the official language of the Deaf Community in Cuba, while guaranteeing a broad and non-discriminatory access to information for deaf people in all contexts, promoting bilingual education and their full inclusion in society, as well as the values of deaf cultural identity at a social level, said the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera.

This Decree Law complies with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic and other laws in force, and with the recommendation made on the occasion of the National Report presented by Cuba as a State Party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2019 on the recognition of Cuban Sign Language as the official language of the Deaf Community of our country.

Feitó Cabrera stressed that "The decree law adopted is a new example of the humanistic actions of the Cuban Revolution; where the State, society and families have the obligation to protect, promote and ensure the full exercise of the rights of persons with disabilities."

The national president of ANSOC, Alejandro Marzo Peña, described the day on which the aforementioned Decree Law was approved as a “historical day.” He thanked the approval of this new norm that ratifies the inclusion and integration of the deaf community in this society while also highlighting its humanistic vocation and efforts to protect and ensure the full exercise of the rights of people with disabilities.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff