Swiss Review 1/2020

Swiss Review / January 2020 / No.1 15 this way, I gradually learnt sign lan- guage from my school friends,” says Schökle. Early support is paramount In contrast to former times, deaf and severely hearing-impaired children nowadays no longer have to attend a special-needs school, but rather can also be integrated into a main- stream school. Some hearing-im- paired children (and adults) wear ei- ther a hearing aid or even a cochlear implant (an implant which is placed in the auditory canal). This enables the wearer to at least partially understand language. However, the aids cannot replace normal hearing. Today’s hearing aids and school attendance do not provide sufficient support for hearing-impaired chil- dren, says Schökle, who has three children that can all hear: “Early sup- port is paramount. Hearing-im- paired children should be able to learn sign language from the time they are small and grow up ‘bilin- gual’.” She says that if you have this opportunity, you will have a better chance of receiving a good education because the school material can also be imparted with the assistance of interpreters. “It is here in the field of was fully on the interpreter or deaf artists. “This is because sign language allows the subject matter to be con- veyed to the public in an extremely visual, vibrant and emotional man- ner.” “The simple fact that sign language is now accepted in the cultural field is great. Needless to say, we’d actually like to take part on an equal basis and independently in all facets of society,” says Schökle. For this reason as well, the legal recognition of sign language by the Federal Council is a “step in the right direction”. MIREILLE GUGGENBÜHLER IS A FREELANCE JOURNALIST AND LIVES IN THUN childhood education that I am hop- ing for changes; if sign language be- comes legally recognised in Switzer- land,” says Schökle. Translate concerts – for everyone During Schökle’s childhood and ado- lescence, the signs seemed to be large and take up a lot of space; nowadays, they are much more subtle and so- phisticated. Very few hearing people are aware that sign language not only consists of handmovements and facial expressions but also has its own gram- mar and syntax. “It is not just an aid but rather an independent language in itself,” notes Schökle. In the last few decades, the language has grown “more extensive and richer” and has continuously developed. Even to the extent that is now pos- sible to translate entire concerts into sign language. Brigitte Schökle has contributedwidely in this area. She is convinced that bridges can be built with the translation of cultural events – bridges between hearing and hear- ing-impaired people. At cultural events she discovered that the listening public is very inter- ested in seeing sign language inter- preters and the deaf poetry slammers go about their work; their attention Politics is on the move The deaf community in Switzerland has the support of three national coun- cillors – Christian Lohr (CVP), Regular Rytz (Greens) and Mathias Reynard (SP) – who are pushing for legal recognition of the three Swiss sign lan- guages at the political level. The National Council has already approved interventions on this issue by the three politicians. Besides legal recogni- tion, Lohr, Rytz and Reynard are demanding concrete action in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with the aim of achieving “the complete, inclusive and barrier-free participation of deaf and hearing-impaired people” in society. … go on a flight in the Alps …