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Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau Wai-hing and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 21):
Question:
Several persons with hearing impairment (PHIs) have, through my office, urged the authorities to help PHIs integrate into the community, thereby enabling them to enjoy the same basic rights as those enjoyed by other members of the public. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:
(a) whether the authorities will consider listing sign language as an official language;
(b) whether they know the current number of professionally qualified sign language interpreters (SLIs) in Hong Kong, and the criteria for determining the professional qualifications of SLIs; whether they have plans to train more SLIs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c) whether they have plans to increase the subsidies for provision of sign language interpretation services, or to provide PHIs with allowances to hire SLIs; if not, of the reasons for that;
(d) whether they have plans to implement a bilingual mode of education offering sign and spoken languages for students with hearing impairment to choose; if not, of the reasons for that;
(e) whether they have requested television stations to add sign language and subtitles to their programmes, so that PHIs may also enjoy television programmes; whether they will consider including in the licensing conditions for television stations the requirement of providing sign language and subtitles in certain television programmes; and
(f) whether they have assessed how the measures taken by the Government to help PHIs overcome problems of their hearing impairment compare with those of other cosmopolitan cities?
Reply:
President,
It is the Government's established policy objective to create a barrier-free environment and promote barrier-free communication, thereby facilitating full integration of persons with disabilities into the community. In this regard, we strive to adopt appropriate measures to facilitate persons with disabilities in communication, including persons with hearing impairment in using sign language or alternative modes in communication with others.
According to the report of the territory-wide survey on persons with disabilities and chronic diseases released by the Census and Statistics Department in 2008, there were about 92 200 persons having hearing difficulties in Hong Kong. Of these, 8 600 persons (9.3%) indicated that they were unable to hear at all; while the remaining 90% or so (including those requiring a specialised hearing aid) could generally rely on their residual hearing ability to communicate verbally or in other forms of communication. Although a small portion of persons with hearing impairment can only communicate in sign language, according to many groups of and service agencies for the hearing impaired, combined use of sign language, oral language and other forms of communication where appropriate can enable persons with hearing impairment to learn and communicate more effectively.
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Emily Lau is as follows:
(a) To promote the use of sign language and enhance social inclusion, the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) has formed a Working Group under the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee (RAC) to advise the Government on ways to promote sign language. The Working Group comprises members of the RAC, persons with hearing impairment, sign language interpreters and representatives from non-governmental organisations of the rehabilitation sector and the education sector. Representatives of relevant government bureaux and departments also attend meetings for discussion as and when required.
Having considered the views of various stakeholders, the Working Group concludes that priority should be given to the promotion of sign language for the time being to facilitate popularisation and development of basic sign language. The question of whether sign language should be adopted as an official language will be examined after a common form of local sign language has evolved over time.
(b) to (c) To enhance the communication of persons with hearing impairment with others, some Social and Recreational Centres for the Disabled and two Multi-service Centres for the Hearing Impaired Persons subvented by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) organise sign language training courses and provide sign language interpretation services to assist persons with hearing impairment in communicating with the hearing community. The sign language interpretation services provided include interpretation service for persons with hearing impairment in relation to job interviews, court hearings, wedding ceremonies, medical consultations, etc. SWD will continue to monitor the utilisation and effectiveness of the sign language training courses and interpretation services, and review the use of resources as appropriate.
Besides, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and the Hong Kong Joint Council for People with Disabilities had organised a three-year Open Assessment Scheme for Sign Language Interpreters. Trainees with outstanding results were recommended to provide service to the court. They, in collaboration with the service agencies for the hearing impaired, are planning to launch certificate courses on professional sign language interpretation with a view to training up more qualified sign language interpreters and enhancing the professional standard of sign language interpretation service. The Working Group under RAC as mentioned in section (a) above will continue to examine issues relating to sign language tutor training, training and accreditation of sign language interpreters, quality of sign language interpretation service, etc.
The Government is also committed to promoting sign language learning. LWB has all along been providing subsidies to service agencies for and self-help groups of the hearing impaired to produce sign language training manuals and self-learning package, including assistive tools for sign language learning via computer or smart phone applications, production of sign language learning cards and teaching kids, as well as setting up the Hong Kong Sign Language Browser, etc. LWB has also subsidised these organisations to organise multifarious public education activities to enhance public understanding of sign language and achieve social inclusion. Such activities include the Hong Kong Deaf Festival, workshops on sign language, sign language interpretation contests, exhibitions on sign language and carnivals, etc.
(d) In general, hearing impaired students who study in ordinary schools are those with less severe impairment. With the help of hearing devices, their hearing ability is considerably enhanced and hence they can normally use oral language to communicate with their teachers and fellow students. Ordinary school teachers use oral language in their daily teaching or communicating with the hearing impaired students to help them use their residual hearing ability to acquire subject knowledge. Teachers will also use different visual strategies, contextual cues, body language, written text, gestures, etc. to enhance their comprehension and learning effectiveness.
Students with severe or profound hearing loss or who cannot construct knowledge because of inadequate speech ability would be referred to schools for children with hearing impairment, in which hearing teachers, hearing impaired teachers and hearing impaired teaching assistants are employed. Hearing impaired teachers will teach in sign language, while normal hearing teachers will conduct teaching activities by using both oral and sign languages, supplementing with visual strategies. Where necessary, hearing impaired teaching assistants will convey the teaching contents to the students by sign language in order to enhance their comprehension and learning effectiveness. Simultaneous sign interpretation services will also be provided for other school activities.
While various countries in the world have been exploring the teaching modes for hearing impaired students (such as oral, signing, sign-supported, bilingual and bicultural, bilingual and co-enrolment, etc.) for nearly 200 years, they have yet to arrive at a conclusion on the most effective teaching mode for these students. As a result, individual countries currently adopt teaching modes which they consider most suitable for their situation. The Education Bureau (EDB) will continue to keep in view international developments in the teaching modes for hearing impaired students and listen to the views of stakeholders with a view to helping schools address the educational needs of hearing impaired students more effectively.
(e) The Government is mindful of the needs of persons with hearing impairment for social information. Therefore, under the current licensing conditions, the two domestic free television programme service licensees in Hong Kong are required to provide subtitling service on both English and Chinese channels for all news, current affairs, weather programmes and emergency announcements. Besides, they are also required to provide Chinese subtitles in all programmes on the Cantonese channels between 7pm and 11pm, and English subtitles on the English channels at least for two hours each week in the programmes targeting teenagers with educational value.
Following the mid-term review of the domestic free television programme service licences in 2010, the former Broadcasting Authority (the predecessor of the Communications Authority) required the two free television licensees to step up incrementally their subtitling service to cater for the needs of persons with hearing impairment. Specifically, these two free television licensees have, starting from December 31, 2010, provided Chinese subtitling for all drama programmes carried on the Cantonese channels. They are also required to provide English subtitling for all programmes broadcast on the English channels between 8pm and 11.30pm by the end of 2012.
In addition, Radio Television of Hong Kong has also produced programmes with sign language interpretation in recent years. For example, both the "News Review" and "Look and Learn" which are currently on air provide detailed subtitles and sign language interpretation to facilitate audience with hearing impairment.
To address the needs of persons with hearing impairment, the two free television licensees have stepped up incrementally their subtitling service according to their licensing conditions. As for sign language interpretation, given the technical difficulties in providing such service, the television licensees are encouraged to provide sign language interpretation service to provide an alternative option for audience with hearing impairment in receipt of information, initially on a voluntary basis, having regard to the mode of operation of individual programmes.
(f) For sustained development of rehabilitation services in Hong Kong (including support for persons with hearing impairment), we have all along kept a close watch on the related international developments and drawn reference to overseas experience. For instance, the aforementioned Working Group under RAC held a sharing session on May 17, 2011 in which Professor Marc Marschark, an internationally renowned scholar, and Mr Markku Jokinen, President of the World Federation of the Deaf, were invited to share international experience in the promotion of sign language.
Officers of EDB have also from time to time participated in international conferences on special education (including hearing impairment), paid visit to relevant organisations and schools, and invited international scholars for experience-sharing and discussion in Hong Kong, in order to keep abreast of the developments in special education in different countries and regions, thereby enhancing the support and services for special education in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:37
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