The Italian Deaf Community at the Time of Coronavirus.

Elena Tomasuolo,Tiziana Gulli,Sabina Fontana,Virginia Volterra

doi:10.3389/fsoc.2020.612559

Abstract

The present paper will explore the impacts of the recent pandemic crisis on the Italian Deaf community, as a linguistic minority. Recent research has shown that minorities are suffering much more the effects of the pandemia because their lack of access to services and in a much wider perspective, to education and welfare. We will show that, during the COVID crisis, despite lockdown measures, various actions at the formal political level (from the Italian Deaf Association) and at the informal level (from the members of the community) promoted sign language and the Deaf community within the hearing majority. In particular, we will analyse how social networks were exploited at the grassroot level in order to promote social cohesion and share information about the coronavirus emergency and how the Deaf community shaped the interpreting services on the public media. The role of social networks, however, has gone far beyond the emergency as it has allowed deaf people to create a new virtual space where it was possible to discuss the appropriateness of various linguistic choices related to the COVID lexicon and to argue about the various interpreting services. Furthermore, in such emergency, the interpreting services were shaped following the needs expressed by the Deaf community with the results of an increased visibility of Italian sign language (LIS) and empowerment of the community. Materials spontaneously produced by members of the Deaf Italian community (conferences, debates, fairy tales, and entertainment games) were selected, as well as materials produced by LIS interpreters committed to guaranteeing access to information. By highlighting the strategies that a minority group put in place to deal with the COVID-19 emergency, we can better understand the peculiarities of that community, creating a bridge between worlds that often travel in parallel for respecting the peculiarities of each other (deaf and hearing communities).

Highlights

From the end of February 2020, in the span of a few weeks, Italy went from the discovery of the first official COVID-19 case to a government decree that essentially prohibited all movements of people within the whole territory, and led to the closure of all non-essential business activities
On 9 March 2020, the government of Italy under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte imposed a national quarantine in response to the growing pandemic, restricting the movement of the population except for necessity, work, and health circumstances. This included the closure of all schools, public offices, museums, galleries, theaters, stadiums, and the obligation to stay at home except for medical reasons or food shopping
LIS shifted from a private language used only in familiar informal settings to a public language with new functional dimensions (Cuxac and Antinoro Pizzuto, 2010; Fontana, 2020). It is an important revolution at the linguistic and at the social level, because social networks can ensure the participation of all Deaf people through generations to events that were set up only for the mainstream, promoting shared experiences for the majority and the Deaf minority. In such emergency, the interpreting services were shaped following the needs expressed by the Deaf Community with the results of an increased visibility of Italian sign language and empowerment of the Community

Summary

INTRODUCTION

From the end of February 2020, in the span of a few weeks, Italy went from the discovery of the first official COVID-19 case to a government decree that essentially prohibited all movements of people within the whole territory, and led to the closure of all non-essential business activities. The President of the Italian National Deaf Association (ENS), has delivered a long interview to a Deaf interviewer on the deaf people accessibility on the emergency period for COVID-19 (https://www.facebook.com/Micel70/videos/ 10158160381593256; https://ens.it/coronavirus) In this interview, he highlighted the strong difficulties that deaf people met during lockdown and the crucial role of the Deaf Association in lobbying the government in order to tailor services to the need of all Deaf people, especially old Deaf people and children. It is an important revolution at the linguistic and at the social level, because social networks can ensure the participation of all Deaf people through generations to events that were set up only for the mainstream, promoting shared experiences for the majority and the Deaf minority In such emergency, the interpreting services were shaped following the needs expressed by the Deaf Community with the results of an increased visibility of Italian sign language and empowerment of the Community. Many people have participated in the linguistic debate at a distance explaining that to distinguish the different meanings and to avoid misunderstandings, a positive or a negative facial expression should accompany the manual sign or further signs have to be added to clarify the content (https://www.facebook.com/rosella. ottolini/videos/10222286641378711/; https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=fkbQyzeb2ao)

DISCUSSION

Findings

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT