Canton wants videos for the deaf in sign language

The Canton of Zurich takes into account all possible language minorities on its channels. Same in twelve versions For example, there is an information sheet about entering kindergarten, from Albanian to Serbian to the Eritrean language Tigrinya.

But another important version is missing: sign language. This is a problem for those affected like Andreas Janner. He is the managing director of “Visibly Deaf Zurich”. This organization is committed to ensuring that the state also makes its information accessible in sign language, for example in the form of explanatory videos.

This requirement may seem surprising at first glance. It makes sense to require a sign translation for verbal information, for example for a live speech by a government councillor. But for written documents? The deaf can read.

Janner knows this argument only too well. “The fact that deaf people can simply read instead of hearing,” he writes, “is a misunderstanding. For the deaf, German is a foreign language that they learn at school.” The first and mother tongue is sign language.

This means that many deaf people are restricted in exercising their political rights because they do not understand complex texts well, for example on referendums. Unless they are translated into sign language. This is a fully developed, complex language with its own grammar and even with different German-Swiss dialects.

The canton of Zurich has been aware of the shortcoming for a long time. In a “Accessibility Statement” Last November, the State Chancellery wrote that the cantonal website still had very little content in sign language, but that it was being worked on. For example, the canton published an explanatory video in sign language for the first time at the end of November 2021 to vote on the energy law. Such videos should be available for all cantonal templates in the future.

Silvia Rigoni is a cantonal councilor for the Greens. In 2019, she had requested a report from the cantonal government on how deaf people could better access political information. “There is a great lack of understanding for the needs of the deaf,” she says. “This also has to do with the fact that their impairment is not easily recognizable.”

The majority of Parliament supported her request and her claim was passed. The government recently published its report.

Media conferences are now translated simultaneously

Media conferences on cantonal voting templates and on the voting Sunday itself have been translated simultaneously since last November, according to the government. There will also be videos on other topics in the future. The State Chancellery has also created a contact point for problems with barrier-free access. She also regularly exchanges views with those affected.

Rigoni welcomes this development, but is not yet convinced that much will actually change. “Five years ago, the government emphasized how important it was to take better account of the needs of the deaf. But to date, apart from the translations for the votes, little has happened.” She hopes that the government will implement its promise this time.

The deaf representative Andreas Janner, on the other hand, is confident that progress is actually being made. “The government council’s report shows that it takes accessibility seriously,” he writes. “He is willing to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the cantonal level.”

What are “important parts” of the canton’s constitution?

An integral transmission of the entire website is logistically and financially impossible. So the crucial question is where exactly the canton should start, apart from the videos for voting.

A focus should be on the so-called central areas of life. This rather vague term is defined more precisely in a separate standard, the «eCH-0059 Accessibility Standard».

For example, information on how to behave in emergency situations, on political and personal rights, on violence and health prevention as well as publications that are specifically aimed at people with disabilities, such as IV or adult protection law, is mandatory.

But even in these core areas, not all information is made integrally accessible to the deaf. In its report, the cantonal government speaks of the fact that only “the most important content” should be transmitted in videos in sign language, even when it comes to Zurich’s highest law, the cantonal constitution.

Andreas Janner can do little with such a selection program. “We want the entire cantonal constitution to be available in sign language,” he writes. «We are aware that the effort for such videos is high. But we want to be treated as full citizens and live independently. This includes that we have the same right to information as hearing people.”

Janner’s prioritization looks like this: “First explanatory videos for all cantonal votes, then those for the messages and the decrees of the government council on all socially relevant topics, but especially those that have a direct connection with people with disabilities.”

The Green Canton Councilor Silvia Rigoni makes another suggestion. She interjects that the canton could evaluate which pages are accessed particularly often. “There is obviously a need for this information,” she says. “These pages could also be translated.”

But it is not only the state actors who are required to do this. The other political forces haven’t paid much attention to the deaf either. On the website of the Zurich parties, for example, there are hardly any videos in sign language. After all, SP Switzerland has had its slogans translated for national templates.

“I can imagine that we will put videos in sign language on the Zurich Greens’ website on individual topics,” says Silvia Rigoni. “But as a standard, this would go beyond our possibilities.”

The parties would not reach many new voters anyway. According to the Swiss Federation of the Deaf, there are around 10,000 people affected nationwide, which corresponds to around 1,800 people in the canton of Zurich.