Specialist dictionaries for sign language
Since 1994, Signum’s series of specialist sign language dictionaries has published dictionaries of sign language as it is used in various fields. The dictionaries were compiled at the University of Hamburg’s Institute for German Sign Language and Communication for the Deaf (IDGS) and are supported by the German Society for the Promotion of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DGFGS), the Ministry of Social Affairs, Family, Health and Consumer Protection of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
The sign language dictionaries aim to assist in establishing a framework for developing effective vocational training of the hearing-impaired that includes the use of sign language. Since the 1980s, increased worldwide recognition of sign languages has opened up new opportunities for the deaf to pursue professional training and further education. Irrespective of the ongoing discussion around the controversial subject of educating the deaf within families and schools, it is beyond doubt that deaf people of both younger and adult age can greatly benefit from the use of sign language within vocational training. Provided that a hearing-impaired person understands sign language, it is possible to communicate complicated facts to them as effectively and with all of the nuances of addressing a hearing person in their spoken language. This can either come from trainers who use sign language, or from sign language interpreters working in vocational training institutions for the hearing-impaired. This allows any deficits that are repeatedly identified within vocational training for the deaf to be largely eliminated.