President Llorenç Galmés has remarked on the commitment of the insular institution to promote the integration and the full autonomy of deaf people.
The Consell de Mallorca has carried out an institutional act to hang a vindicative flag from the façade of the street of Palacio Real and to join this way to the commemoration of the International Week of the Deaf People, which begins today and lasts until the 29th of September, with the slogan ‘Sign language by right, join us, to emphasize the linguistic rights of the deaf people and their right to communicate in the own language of signs of their country.
The president of the island institution, Llorenç Galmés, presided over the event, accompanied by the president of the Federation of Deaf People of the Balearic Islands, Víctor Arguimbau. Also in attendance were the president of IMAS and councillor for Social Welfare, Guillermo Sánchez, and the IMAS island director of People with Disabilities, Maria Francesca Rigo.
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The Consell de Mallorca vindicates the right to equal opportunities on the occasion of the International Week of Deaf People
President Llorenç Galmés took the opportunity to highlight the island’s commitment to guaranteeing accessibility and promoting the autonomy of deaf people. In this sense, he stressed that ‘this year was the first edition of the Diada de Mallorca where the dramatised visits to the headquarters of the Consell Palace have had simultaneous sign language interpretation, to ensure that everyone can enjoy this experience’.
In this sense, and about this year’s slogan, he remarked that ‘we are a particularly sensitive institution to advance in their full integration, and one of the things to which we attach great importance is to make it easier for them to communicate with each other. We continue to be the only public institution with its sign language interpreter service, which for the past year has been available to the public seven days a week, so that we can also attend to deaf people who need an interpreter at the weekend in an emergency, such as going to the doctor.
In addition, the Institut Mallorquí d’Afers Socials (IMAS) has also increased the accessibility of all its citizen service offices this year with the installation of magnetic loops to improve the quality of the sound received by hearing-impaired people who use hearing aids and/or cochlear implants.
For his part, the councillor for Social Welfare, Guillermo Sánchez, explained that ‘IMAS is also working to raise awareness because all institutions and entities must join forces to improve the reality of deaf people’. A delegation of the Sign Language Interpreter Service of IMAS is travelling this week to India with the hearing-impaired adventurer José Luis Garcia Ginard and representatives of the Vicenç Ferrer Foundation to, among other actions, visit different schools for hearing-impaired children, give visibility to the group and demonstrate that communication has no barriers.