Àngela Callado, University Jaume I
Since October 23, 2007, the Spanish sign languages of the Spanish State have been recognized through the Act 27/2007. However, according to the Spanish National Confederation of Deaf People, only the Spanish and Catalan sign languages currently coexist in the Spanish State The reality is that there are more than 10 dialectal varieties of the Spanish sign language – all of them enclosed in one single Act. Besides this reigning confusion, there is also a legal loophole in the Act 27/2007 which sets aside the responsibility of regulating and recognizing the rest of the sign languages of the State. Normally, they are limited to the territories of each region. The only place in which the regional sign language has achieved official status is Catalonia, where an Act has been established in order to recognize the Catalan sign language (Act 17/2010, June 3rd). This Act is explicitly recognized in the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia and has its own regulatory autonomy in the territorial scope. Since the Catalan sign language has its own regulations, it is strongly considered to be an independent language (and not a dialect). What we aim to analyse in this project is whether the regional legislation has given both languages official status in the entire Spanish territory, and whether the users of sign language have the duty of learning both and the right to use them in any administrative situation. We compare the Spanish regulation to the regulation of other countries with a similar multilingual situation. Our objective is to determine the existing gaps in the proposal submitted by the Spanish State to guarantee the rights of the deaf people of the State.
References
Ley 27/2007, de 23 de octubre, por la que se reconocen las lenguas de signos españolas y se regulan los medios de apoyo a la comunicación oral de las personas sordas, con discapacidad auditiva y sordociegas [Act 27/2007, October 23rd, on the recognition of the different Spanish sign languages and the regulation of the communication with deaf and hard of hearing people], Spanish official gazette no. 255, published October 24, 2007, pp. 43251 to 43259
Llei 17/2010, del 3 de juny, de la llengua de signes catalana [Act 17/2010, June 3rd, on the Catalan sign language], Catalan official gazette no. 729/VIII, published June 2, 2010