International Sign Language Day: BSEIPH Advocates for Sign Language Education in Schools

International Sign Language Day is celebrated on September 23. On this occasion, the Office of the Secretary of State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities (BSEIPH) organized a day of activities highlighting the importance of sign language in Haitian society, considered the best means of communication for deaf people.

In his address, the executive director of BSEIPH advocated for the introduction of sign language education in all public and private schools.

“We encourage the Haitian State to take concrete measures to introduce the teaching of this language in private and public schools,” declared Director Fenel Bellegarde.

Concurrently, as head of the office, Fenel Bellegarde stated that significant work is underway to enable more Haitians to understand sign language.

Representing Minister Alix Didier Fils Aimé at the ceremony, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Georges Wilbert Franck, reaffirmed that people living with disabilities have their rightful place in society.

He reiterated his ministry's commitment to supporting them, while emphasizing that their situation is not solely the responsibility of the State, but also of society as a whole, which must change its perception and behavior towards them.

World Deaf Day (often abbreviated as WDD, and called International Day of the Deaf in English) is an international day dedicated to raising awareness about deafness and presenting deaf culture, including sign language, set for the last Saturday of September each year by the World Federation of the Deaf since 1958.

Initially, it was an isolated day of demonstration; but it has become the culmination of a week of events, World Deaf Week.