Deaf Caribbean Academic Network: Making language policy work for deaf communities in the Caribbean

加勒比聋人学术网络：使语言政策为加勒比地区的聋人社区服务

• 批准号: AH/X009718/1
• 负责人: Nicholas Palfreyman
• 金额: $ 10.63万
• 依托单位: University of Central Lancashire
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FX009718%2F1
• 关键词: Deaf; Caribbean; Academic; Network; Making

The Caribbean region is home to many thousands of deaf people who communicate using a signed language, rather than a spoken one. Although people tend to assume that each country has its own sign language, the situation is actually much more compliacted - even one relatively small Caribbean island can have two or three sign languages.We focus on two problems. The first is to do with the different kinds of sign language used in the Caribbean.The Caribbean faces many natural disasters, such as hurricanes and volcanoes. Imagine that you are a deaf mother or father, looking after your family. There is an emergency, and everyone around you is making preparations, but you are still trying to find out what is happening. You turn the television on, but the small interpreter in the corner of the screen is signing a language that you do not understand.Or imagine that you are a deaf child who signs at home - but when you go to school, the teacher does not sign the language that you know. The teacher might speak to you, so that you do not understand what they are saying. Or the teacher might use a different sign language that you also do not understand.These are some of the serious barriers that deaf people face in the Caribbean. Yet these barriers can be removed if language policies are effective (for example, if the government makes sure that the right information is provided in the right language for each deaf person).The second problem is that deaf people have struggled to access education, so they often do not have the qualifications that their hearing peers have. There are several deaf people in the Caribbean who are knowledgeable and who conduct research, but they are not able to get a foothold in the academic world.Our project aims to solve both of these problems. First, we set up a Deaf Caribbean Academic Network (DeafCAN), with deaf people in Trinidad & Tobago, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. They share their knowledge and experiences with each other, and we put them in touch with experts from around the world who can help them to find ways to conduct research together.Secondly, we collect the experiences of deaf people - for example when trying to access information in the right language - and use these to help the government make better language policy in future.The work of our DeafCAN Network is expected to have a significant impact on the lives of marginalised deaf people by analysing their perspectives on sign language policy, and we find ways to keep the Network going beyond the life of this project.

加勒比地区是数千名使用签名语言进行交流的聋哑人的家园，而不是口语。尽管人们倾向于假设每个国家都有自己的手语，但这种情况实际上更加适应 - 即使是一个相对较小的加勒比岛也可以使用两种或三种标志性语言。我们关注两个问题。首先是与加勒比海中使用的各种手语类型有关。加勒比海面临许多自然灾害，例如飓风和火山。想象一下，您是聋哑的母亲或父亲，照顾您的家人。有紧急情况，您周围的每个人都在做准备，但是您仍在尝试找出正在发生的事情。您打开电视，但是屏幕角落里的小口译员正在签署一种您不了解的语言。或者想象您是一个在家签名的聋哑孩子 - 但是当您上学时，老师不会签署您所知道的语言。老师可能会和您说话，以免您不了解他们在说什么。否则老师可能会使用您也不理解的其他手语。这些是加勒比海聋人面临的一些严重障碍。然而，如果语言政策有效，可以消除这些障碍（例如，如果政府确保以适当的语言为每个聋人提供正确的信息）。第二个问题是聋人努力接受教育，因此他们经常没有听证会的资格。加勒比海有几名聋人知识渊博并进行研究，但他们无法在学术界站稳脚跟。我们的项目旨在解决这两个问题。首先，我们建立了一个聋哑加勒比大学学术网络（DEAFCAN），在特立尼达和多巴哥，波多黎各和牙买加的聋哑人。他们彼此分享他们的知识和经验，我们使他们与来自世界各地的专家保持联系，这些专家可以帮助他们一起进行研究。第二，我们收集聋哑人的经验 - 例如，当试图以正确的语言访问这些信息并利用这些信息来帮助政策在未来的语言中更好地对聋哑人的影响，他们在竞争中的影响力很大。寻找使网络超越该项目的生活的方法。