Input Swiss Deaf Federation (Schweizerischer Gehörlosenbund SGB FSS)

Deaf sign language users and hard of hearing persons require visual access to sound-based information on websites. This could be additional subtitles or in-vision signing for a video that contains speech. Subtitles also support foreign language learners and those who are deafened.

Sign languages are fully-fledged visual languages used by Deaf Communities around the world. There are three sign languages used in Switzerland by around 10,000 deaf persons: Swiss-German Sign Language, French Sign Language, and Italian Sign Language. Due to most deaf children being born into hearing families and the education system not being fully adapted to deliver successful bilingual education, the reading comprehension levels of many deaf adults is not equivalent to that of their hearing peers. This is why information in sign language is essential to a website that wants to be accessible to all.

As a primary step, a website could have its basic and most important permanent information on the homepage translated into sign language. As a secondary step, a deaf person or deaf organization could be involved to aid in choosing which content is most relevant to a deaf audience. Whenever videos are provided, they should ideally be signed by a deaf native signer. From a programming point of view, it is best not to have a dedicated site for sign language but add a button next to the language options where you can choose “sign language”.

For more information see the following fact sheet on videos in sign language (in German): https://www.edi.admin.ch/dam/edi/de/dokumente/gleichstellung/infomaterial/Untertitel_de_ok.pdf.download.pdf/Untertitelung%20von%20Videos.pdf

For more information on sign language and the Deaf Community see: http://wfdeaf.org/news/resources/11-may-2018-deaf-community-linguistic-identity-disability-position-paper/

Some cantonal examples:

City of Bern: https://www.bern.ch/themen/gesundheit-alter-und-soziales/behinderung-und-invaliditat/angebote-in-gebaerdensprache

Ombudsman Zürich: https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/portal/de/index/politik_u_recht/ombudsstelle/Gebaerdensprache.html

Example where “sign language” can be chosen as a language (top right corner): https://www.bmas.de/DE/Gebaerdensprache/gebaerdensprache.html