Inclusion of the deaf into the world of the hearing

We are not always aware that the deaf are often facing difficulties when trying to access the services needed in their everyday life and also when trying to access cultural and other contents. With our support, the Ljubljana Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing made an important step towards better inclusion of the deaf and hard of hearing this spring, with the initiative Theatre Interpreter. In the first step of the initiative, more than 100 deaf people, including children, watched four theatre plays interpreted into the Slovenian sign language. We were extremely pleased with the sincere and enthusiastic responses of the visitors and decided to continue supporting the initiative and planning additional activities.

A few months back we made a step forward in the process of improving the inclusion of the deaf and hard of hearing and facilitated the process of performing the basic banking services via video call, as the first bank in Slovenia. Positive responses of the users to this new service further encouraged us to organise a financial literacy workshop with interpretation into the Slovenian sign language at which the deaf and hard of hearing received valuable advice on how to cope with daily and unexpected financial challenges. Upon our initiative, the marketing and communication conference Sempl will for the first time be available to the deaf and hard of hearing since there will be a sign language interpreter present at the main stage during all 20 lectures.

The purpose of the Theatre Interpreter initiative is not only to bring the Slovenian theatres closer to the deaf but to raise awareness of the heating about the importance of social inclusion of the deaf.