3.3. Language attitudes
No recent research on the current language attitudes towards NGT is available, but informal conversations and sources show that Dutch signing deaf people are generally proud of ‘their’ NGT. Cokart et al. (2019) present a clear overview of highlights in the empowerment/emancipation of Dutch deaf people, and in their process of becoming aware and proud of their sign language. In 2016, prior to the submission of the private member’s bill on the official recognition of NGT, there was a trend on social media in which Dutch signers posted videos in which they declared that NGT was their native language, and asked for support of this law. During the same period, another trend was for Dutch signers to post videos with their favourite NGT sign. Both movements bear testimony to a positive attitude towards NGT.
The broader Dutch society is positive towards NGT (Cokart et al. 2019). Recently, the interest in NGT and in NGT interpretation increased notably following the start of the Covid-19 crisis in March 2020. During this crisis, it was for the very first time that press conferences of the Prime Minster were interpreted by a physically present NGT interpreter[1][BVdB1] , and this caused quite a shift within Dutch society regarding awareness about NGT. Although this has not been analyzed systematically, the general impression is that the majority of comments about NGT on social media and in newspapers in this period showed a positive attitude towards NGT.
[1] Instead of on-screen interpretation on digital television. It must be pointed out that the first press conferences on Covid-19 were not interpreted live on analogue TV, and that interpretation was also lacking in previous (local) crisis situations (de Jong 2019). Deaf people pointed out that extensive lobbying made the later addition of live NGT interpretation happen, and that credits should go to Dovenschap (see Table 1.1) (e.g. Hinderks 2020).
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This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant Agreement No 693349.