Finnish and Irish Sign Languages: An egalitarian analysis of ...

Finnish and Irish Sign Languages:An egalitarian analysis of language policies andtheir effects.ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to advance academic understanding of what equality ofcondition (Baker, et al, 2004) would mean for Deaf people in relation to the recognitionof signed language in both education and access to information in particular. It set out totest the hypothesis that the social model of disability is necessary but not sufficient forrealising equality of condition for Deaf people because it does not take sufficient accountof the importance of either culture or language to Deaf people. Deaf communities identifythe status of their signed languages as the indicators of their social standings thereforeegalitarian measures must be intertwined with the status of signed languages (Lane et al1996, Ladd, 2003, Batterbury et al, 2007, Bauman, 2008, Emery 2009).To achieve its goals, a comparative study of signed language policies and practices inboth Finland and Ireland was undertaken, two countries that are seen to be moreadvanced (Finland) and less advanced (Ireland) in terms of the equality of condition forDeaf people. The goal was to establish if Finland had actually moved towards equality ofcondition by comparison with Ireland with respect to the education and publicinformation access of Deaf people.The research process involved the compilation of a range of data including the analysisof: (a) the general political, social and economic contexts of both countries, (b) the widerlegislative contexts affecting languages in both countries, (c) the specific language policycontexts of both countries, (d) short study visits to Finland and similar visits toinstitutions in Ireland and (e) interview data from 29 people (14 Irish people and 15Finnish people, of which 3 Irish and 7 of Finnish respondents are Deaf).