A Taste of Saudi Arabian Culture in Inverness

May 30, 2011 - PRLog -- In Saudi Arabian Sign Language there are variations in the signs used between men and women; this is due to the culture of separation between the sexes.  This is just one of the fascinating facts that attendees learned at a presentation given by Hend Al-Showaier.  

It is common for regional signs to develop in British Sign Language (BSL) but gender based differences is not something that happens in BSL.  For the Deaf community in Saudi Arabia these gender based signs are reduced once a Deaf woman and Deaf man are married.  Approximately thirty people attended the Highland Deaf Centre on Sunday 22nd May to meet Hend and learn about Deaf life and culture in Saudi Arabia.    

Hend visited Scotland after meeting Liz Scott Gibson, Chief Executive of Deaf Action, last year.  Liz was in Saudi Arabia to train sign language interpreters at the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research.  There is no sign language interpreter training course in Saudi Arabia, despite have a Deaf population of more than 88,000.  Hend was very impressed to learn about the Scottish Government supported Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters (SASLI) apprenticeship scheme, Building Bridges project, in which Deaf Action participated.  The project trained ten additional BSL/English interpreters in Scotland.

Hend’s presentation was delivered in International Sign Language which was interpreted into English and then interpreted into British Sign Language by Deaf Action’s Communication Support Agency.

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Deaf Action is a deaf-led registered charity (SCO 09898) established in 1835 and managed by an elected Executive Council. We work with Deaf British Sign Language users, as well as those who are deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing.