“We believe that deaf people are a socio-linguistic minority”
- With the invaluable help of the sign language interpreter, we interviewed Aitor Bedialauneta Arrate (Ondarroa, 1991), president of the Basque federation of deaf associations. “Do I rely on the interpreter? Right now, we both have it,” he taught us. Bedialauneta was born deaf and her parents are deaf. It's not the most common thing, as we'll see.
What is the main demand of the deaf?
There are many. The truth is that society has not yet adapted to us. Our “disability”, to put it somewhat, is the only disability with its own language, which is the sign language. In this way, we do not regard ours as a disability. We see it from the socio-linguistic point of view, we believe that we are a socio-linguistic minority. We have no problem communicating with each other, we find ourselves with difficulties in communicating with society, which still does not know what it means to be deaf. Therefore, our greatest demand is that they respect us, that they respect our language, our culture and our identity. That there are sign language interpreters, subtitling and transparent masks...
“Society still doesn’t know what it means to be deaf,” he says. What does that mean?
Many times society believes that a deaf person is simply someone who doesn't listen. And it's not. Society is wrong about that. Our main obstacle is the lack of communication and information. No matter if there are auditory signs, cochlear implant, hearing aid or you can speak well orally... A deaf person lacks communication and information.
So is basically the community suffering from sociolinguistic discrimination?
Yes. One example we're worried about now is education. Many deaf children are not taught sign language. Because society believes that the implant or the hearing aid, teaching to speak orally -- will be enough, and that's a big mistake.
Why?
Because deaf people are forever deaf. That is the starting point and it must be made clear from the start. A deaf may be able to speak orally or hear something, but not as a “social audience.” That is why I said that there is a lack of communication and information, from the first minute. But we have a natural language. If taught from birth, we have access to information.
And why isn't it taught? .jpg)
Most deaf children are born in hearing families. Since they do not know this community, in this moment of shock, they first take the child to the doctor in search of a solution, and the solution offered is a cochlear implant or hearing aid. The problem is not addressed from the socio-linguistic point of view, but from the medical point of view.
Physiological, so to speak?
Yes, it is. And we ask for it to come from both points of view. Implant is a resource that can help advance, but there must also be sign language.
In any case, the majority of society is illiterate in sign language. And you're a minority, I don't know how far ...
About 2.3% of society has hearing impairment, the minority being the one who knows the language of signos.Euskal Gorrak is the only entity that represents deaf people and we serve all groups, not only those who use sign language. Elderly people with hearing loss, hearing loss from day to day by accident... We can adapt and look for a communication strategy for everyone. Euskal Gorrak does not require sign language. It requires communication channels, access to information. And this can be achieved in several ways.
You have studied in college and many other deaf people. However, they denounce the shortcomings of the educational system.
The education system is prepared for normal hearing. Many professionals, and families, think that a cochlear implant will solve the problem, while we bet on bilingual education. That is to say, it is important, of course, to learn to read and speak, but for small deaf children it is also essential to communicate with the sign language, which is the natural language. The UN agreement on people with disabilities states that deaf children have the right to learn sign language. The Spanish State has signed this agreement, but it is not being implemented, rules that need much greater development. Families' priority is to turn their children into listeners.
A deaf person cannot read at the same rate as a listener. Why?
Those who are born capable of listening constantly receive information, and that information, to put it another way, is free, they don't have to go looking for it. A deaf person does not have it, most deaf people are born in hearing families and lose most of what the family shares. In short, to read or learn we need more time to complete that information that we're constantly losing. We are not slower or less capable; the truth is that we do not get information in our natural language. If everyone knows sign language, I would receive information at all times and move forward at the same speed as others.
Linguistic confusion
“Asking why there is no sign language in Basque is the wrong approach. Sign languages do not depend on oral languages. They are independent. The point is that there is no Basque sign language, simply. Here, when we speak of the Spanish sign language, we use a number of signs, culturally ‘softer’, but their number is not enough to say that there is a tongue of vasca.And we cannot invent the sign language. Languages are alive, they adapt and they change, and they can eventually have different languages. In the Iberian peninsula two have official recognition: Spanish and Catalan”.
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