Powerpoint given by Dr Paddy Ladd at the World Federation of the Deaf congress, in Madrid, Spain, 2007 (uploaded with kind permission of Paddy)

1. Cultural Rights and
Sign Language Peoples
Dr Paddy Ladd
Centre for Deaf Studies,
University of Bristol

2. Structure of Paper
1. Brief history of Deaf Culture concept.
2. Importance of colonialism concept.
3. Brief history of cultural rights.
4. Recent UNESCO cultural legislation.
5. Its relevance for SLPs.
6. Some routes to action – and some recent
failures.

3. The history and significance of the
Deaf Culture concept.
 Language Rights are beginning to be acknowledged.
 But there is still very limited understanding of Deaf
Culture concept, in both Deaf and hearing worlds.
 This is made worse by a major weakness of Deaf
Studies – huge imbalance of resources and attention
to sign linguistics compared with the study of Deaf
communities themselves, their sociology, culture,
history, arts etc.

4. Why is Studying Deaf Culture
Important ?
 Are Deaf views really being heard ? No.
 Most Deaf discourses are in Sign Languages, and are
not being collected and recorded in print, Thus they
remain unknown to wider world.
 All Deaf people deserve to have their views and
stories recorded – not just Deaf professionals.
 And even Deaf professionals’ stories and views are
not in print.
 Thus much research – and funding – is needed.

5. So Deaf Culture concept is
important INTERNALLY because :
 It offers a chance to reflect on Deaf lives and
what we have created together as communities
for 250+ years.
 Reflection and appreciation of our Deafhoods
helps us to decide how to cope well with the
immense changes needed now.
 It offers all Deaf people a chance to ‘make a
difference’, feel more proud.

6. Concept important for hearing
societies because :
 Most hearing authorities / people have a problem believing that Deaf
communities have their own norms, values, beliefs, and traditions.
 Western societies think in individualist, not collective terms ; they can’t
believe that peoples such as SLPs do have collectively held beliefs etc.
 They also see us simply as impaired individuals.
 They also do not see all the power and beauty in this global ‘society’ here
today – because we do not show it to them !
 For example - we could have a public Parade in WFD week, but we never
do !
 This is partly because we do not value our culture enough yet – our
Deafhood is still limited.

7. The ‘need to prove’ that Deaf
Cultures exist.
 Linguistic ‘proof’ that Sign Languages are bona fide
languages made an immense difference to our lives.
 The existence of languages is easier to prove.
 But much harder to ‘prove’ that cultures exist –
because little research into that subject generally.
 This is because hearing authorities mostly take for
granted that hearing societies have cultures (they just
argue about which ones are ‘best’ !)

8. So what evidence do we have ?
 Some Deaf cultural/sociology books :
- Padden and Humphries (1988 and 2005)
- Lane, Hoffmeister and Bahan (1996)
- Mindess et al (2000)
- Ladd (2003)
But this is a ‘drop in the ocean’ of the lives of
world Deaf cultures.

9. Is there a quick definition
we can use ?
 It is possible to argue that :
 - All language groups produce their own cultures,
because languages are the basis for how a people
perceive their world, and how they then construct
their world.
Therefore all SLPs have their own cultures !

10. Deaf cultures –
full cultures or sub-cultures ?
 Ladd (2003) posits that sub-cultures of a
society still have the main language of their
society as their first language.
 Or people are minority cultures living inside
another society, with a different first language
eg. Immigrant cultures.
 SLPs are thus minority cultures.

11. Minority Cultures :
 Are almost all oppressed cultures.
 Many of them are also colonised cultures.
 Ladd (2003) expands on Lane (1993) and Wrigley (1996) -
states that Deaf cultures are also colonised cultures.
 ie. That their languages and cultures are suppressed, colonised,
in order to be ‘replaced’ by the ‘hearing’ languages and
cultures.
 Colonisation is found mostly in Deaf education systems but
also elsewhere in Deaf lives.

12. So therefore…
 We need to align ourselves with other minority
cultures.
 Seek the same protection as they themselves
are fighting for.
 Such cultural campaigns are able to defend
Deaf communities more than sign language
recognition campaigns can achieve alone.
 Both must go hand-in-hand.

13. Two Examples
1. SL recognition means nothing unless Deaf Heritage
Resources, museums, archives etc exist and are properly
funded.
2. SL recognition means nothing if all Deaf children are
mainstreamed or cochlear implanted - and Deaf schools then
closed !
 The schools are the castles, the cornerstones of our cultures.
They are the major community resource of Deaf skills for our
collective lives.
 Without what is learned from people who learn those ‘hearts’
of Deaf culture, mainstreamed Deaf would have no place to go
to develop their Deafhood !

14. The Rise of Cultural Rights
 “ In the late 1980s, ownership of knowledge
and artistic creations traceable to the world’s
indigenous societies, emerged, seemingly out
of nowhere, as a major social issue.”
‘Who Owns Native Culture ?’ Brown (2003) p.ix

15. Ownership of What ?
Other Minority Peoples are campaigning to assert control over
elements of culture that they consider part of their patrimony.
Just a few examples :
- Language (many places !)
- Arts (Australia)
- Folklore (New Zealand)
- ‘Knowledge’ (many places !)
- Spiritual Beliefs (Native Americans)
- Land / Landscapes (includes plants/wildlife) (Peru)
- Buildings / Other sites (many places)
- Medical practices (India)

16. Successful Battles for Collective
Ownership.
 One long-term problem for SLPs – Human
Rights are often framed or granted as
individual rights, not collective rights per se.
 HOWEVER, some of these battles just
mentioned include examples where collective
cultural rights have been won (eg copyright
owned by a tribe/people, not an individual)

17. The Development of Cultural
Policies
 Organisations like the UN have implicitly
recognised cultural diversity since 1946.
 But explicit recognition has come much later
(triggered by concerns about globalisation).
 2001 - UNESCO Declaration on Cultural
Diversity.
 2005 – Convention (document) on the
Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of
Cultural Expressions.

18. UNESCO Convention on the Protection and
Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
(2005)
 Signed by 52 countries as of March 2007.
 Recommending, not binding by law.
 35 Articles and 6 Annexes.
 Celebrates cultural diversity, recognises its value to
all of humanity, recognises the need to protect
cultures.
 Recalls that linguistic diversity is fundamental to
cultural diversity,
 That EDUCATION systems play a key role, so that
minorities can have access to their own cultures.

19. So how is this relevant for SLP
cultures ?
Some Possible Applications.
1. Deaf children and their families’ rights to access to
Deaf cultures traditionally denied/obstructed. Now
much worse with mainstreaming.
2. Deaf schools as repositories of cultural heritage, as
resources, being closed.
3. Deaf people being banned or obstructed from being
teachers.
4. Deaf Schools not teaching from Deaf-culturally
centred philosophy.

20. 5. ‘Ownership’ of Research ‘on’
SLPs
“ Today native nations properly insist on their right to determine who
conducts research among them, and to what end – a principle that is fully
acknowledged and embraced by working anthropologists.”
Brown (2003) p.xi
Do we have this power ???
“ Indigenous peoples now perceive themselves as more threatened by
outsiders who claim to love their religion than by missionaries dedicated to
its overthrow. ”
Brown (2003) p.23
Do we experience oppression from those who claim to love our
languages ???

21. 6. ‘Ownership/Control’ of
Languages and Cultures.
 Minority Languages as the core of minority cultures –
thus minority cultures should control the means of –
 Teaching, training, assessing, certificating,
disseminating those languages and cultures.
 Also fields such as education, TV / film and
interpreting, where hearing people gain employment
through their contact with those languages and
cultures.

22. Relevant UNESCO Articles
 1 (b) “ to create the conditions for cultures to
flourish….”
 2.4 “ to create and strengthen their
means of cultural expression…”
 2.7 “ access to the means of expression
and dissemination…”
 2.8 “ States should promote….openness to
other cultures of the world.”

23. More Articles
 4.7 – “Protection means….preservation, safeguarding and
enhancement” of cultures.
 6.2 (f) – “Establishing and supporting public institutions as
appropriate.”
 8.1 – to “Determine the existence of special situations where
cultural expressions are at risk of extinction, under special
threat…”
 13 – “The creation of conditions conducive to sustainable
development..”
 18 - Establishing “An International Fund for Cultural
Diversity.”

24. Routes to Action.
 The ‘UNESCO’ Intergovernmental Committee
(established by Article 22)
 Governments to provide information on their
reports to UNESCO “on measures taken to
protect and promote the diversity of cultural
expressions…”
( I recommend you look at the UNESCO website on culture. Full of
fascinating information ! )

25. What about other UN routes ?
 UN Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2007.
Fails to protect –
Deaf schools – inclusion is still the keyword.
Deaf cultures. Fails to protect against enforced Cochlear Implantation (or, for later,
genetic engineering).
This is a major opportunity that we have ALL failed to win !  So now we may have
to fight without any ‘legal backing’. go ‘the long way round’ for the next 20 years.
 UN Rights of Indigenous Peoples (draft delayed by colonisers for 20 years so far !)
“ have the right to practice and revitalise their
cultural traditions and customs.”
- BUT it would be a huge battle to gain
recognition via this definition.

26. And so…
 We have to battle on to obtain collective
recognition via linguistic and now minority
cultural rights.
 First place to start globally – the UNESCO
Convention.

27. Crucial to secure formal recognition
of SLP Cultures !
WFD and Deaf associations have to achieve government
recognition of Deaf cultures, in order to fight for these other
‘missing’ cultural rights.
WFD should be the first people knocking on the
Intergovernmental Committee’s door ! They represent the
largest group of cultures in the world – nearly 200 !
BUT send politically experienced people who understand Deaf
culture academically.
BRING this paper to the attention of your Deaf organisations and
start to push them along this path – from ‘ bottom upwards’ !

28. Gracias !
Thank you for watching !
 Thanks to Nigel Howard and Christopher Stone for being
partners in this presentation. Thanks to Tove Skuttnabb-
Kangas for her contributions.