InSign (or Advancing inclusive education through International Sign ) is a project funded by the European Commissions under Erasmus + KEY Action 2 Programme , initiated by 5 Partners from Germany, Portugal Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia, including the European Association of Career Guidance, and 27 associated partners in order to promote the communication between deaf and non-deaf as well as among international deaf students using International Sign.
As our previous experience with the international deaf community has shown that deaf students experience difficulties in communicating with non-deaf as well as with other deaf students from different nationalities due to the different languages used by both. Since all sign languages are different despite sharing common characteristics. Even though the International Sign language exists, it is not commonly used except in big international congresses and global events, like the World Federation of the Deaf and COINE. Furthermore deaf communities are very much closed in themselves and with the exception of a few cases, deaf students rarely contact other deaf and even less non-deaf people outside their family and close friends.
This castrating isolation they are forced to live in is one of the main causes for the very frequent mental diseases and depression observed in young deaf students. Therefore our position is that it is extremely important to provide channels for the communication and access to digital education materials in a common sign language that all deaf students can understand. It is also critical to facilitate the access of deaf students to education and promote their inclusion in the globalized society through the:
– Promotion of the inclusion of deaf students in international education and their access to international mobility
– Promotion of active citizenship of the deaf students in a globalized world.
In more detail the InSign project goal is to establish an innovative infrastructure to promote the communication between deaf and non-deaf as well as among international deaf students using International Sign through the production of the IS-Automatic Translator, and the development of applications to assist deaf students in educational settings and in daily life in international environment. Overall the project aims to promote inclusive school by transferring to the civil society innovative assistive technology research products that facilitate the access to education to deaf people in an international environment. INSIGN provides unique conditions to promote social inclusion, active citizenship and an improved educational experience to the European deaf community.
Implementation period: 01/09/2019 – 31/08/2022 (36 months)
Website: www.uni-siegen.de/zew/insign/
