EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/889

(2004/C 84 E/0983)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0832/04

by Anne Ferreira (PSE), Ioannis Souladakis (PSE) and Catherine Stihler (PSE) to the Commission

(15 March 2004)

Subject: Theatrical signers and audience members with hearing difficulties

Theatre performances may be translated for audience members with hearing problems by a signer. The option of having a signer present usually depends on the initiative of either the theatre, the theatre company, or specific arrangements requested by an audience with hearing difficulties. As a result, people with hearing difficulties are excluded from many cultural activities across the European Union. In addition, today, there are few trained theatrical signers.

What, if any, initiatives is the Commission taking to ensure that people with hearing difficulties might participate in cultural activities? What support does the Commission offer towards the training of theatrical signers?

Answer given by Mr Dimas on behalf of the Commission

(29 April 2004)

The issue mentioned by the Honourable Member is generally an area of competence of the Member States. It is not the responsibility or within the competences of the Commission to recognise any language. The fact of the matter is that sign language varies across Member States and regions. Thus, recognition of any sign language is the responsibility of each Member State, and the Commission notes that a number of Member States have indeed recognised certain individual sign languages as official languages at national level.

However, the Commission is very sensitive to the needs of people for whom sign language is their first language and within a number of EU action programmes, such as the Lingua programme, the Commission has made grants available for projects which promote the teaching and learning of sign languages. All the EU events organised within the framework of the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 included interpretation in sign languages as well as spoken languages. For example, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) organised a conference entitled ‘eAccessibility by voice’, which was entirely subtitled through the use of stenotypists, and in part, automatically, subtitled through the prototype voice recognition technology developed by the JRC.

It is also important to recognise that it is necessary to be able to respond to the needs of a variety of different people, and in particular for those who are deaf or hard of hearing for whom sign language is not their first language. For this reason, the Commission tries to ensure easy access to written documents and for example tries, where feasible, to provide velotype or hearing loops at conferences. However, within the various framework programmes for research and technological development, the Commission has maintained a particular priority for research projects which help to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Other examples of Commission action include its collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union and the Cenelec standard setting committee to bring advances in the area of the development and harmonisation of subtitling and also on the use of voice recognition to generate subtitling for conferences and television broadcasts. An interesting activity in this context is the VOICE project (http://voice.jrc.it/) of the Joint Research Centre. Moreover, the VOICE project has contributed to technological research and development through developing a ‘design for all’ approach based on subtitling, suitable for both able and disabled people. In this sense, subtitling could be an apt choice, worthwhile exploring further, for enhancing the participation of persons with hearing disabilities in cultural activities. The European Social Fund (ESF) is the main Community financial instrument in support of Member States policies in the fields of education, training and employment, with a global allocation of EUR 62,5 billion for the period 2000-2006 (EU15).

Training of theatrical signers can be supported in the framework of ESF co-funded programmes managed and implemented by national and regional authorities.

The outcomes of all these different actions can help to address the challenges related to deafness and hearing loss, and to boost the accessibility of a wide range of goods, services and possibly cultural activities to the benefit of all society.