Finnish Sing Language interpreting services to be organized by the state of Finland
Helsinki Dec. 9th 2007
In Finland, the Sign Language interpreting services will, in the future, be organized by the state: the interpreting services will be provided by the Social Insurance Institution (Kela). Until the present, the interpreting services have been provided by the social services of the Deaf person’s home municipality.
According to the Finnish legislation, Sign Language users are provided a minimum of 180 hours (deafblind 360 hours) of interpreting per year, and more hours may be applied for, according to individual needs. Interpreting services related to studies are arranged to the extent needed by the person concerned for coping with his/her studies. In Finland, interpreting services are considered a subjective right, whereby the services are free of charge for the users.
In Finland, there are approximately 5000 deaf Sign Language users, and the Finnish Association of Sign Language Interpreters (SVT) lists approximately 450 Sign Language interpreters.
As the interpreting services will be transferred from the municipal authorities to the state authorities, the Services and Assistance for the Disabled Act (380/87) of the Finnish legislation will have to be amended.
The change in the interpreting services is made to improve the Sign Language users’ rights to receive interpreting service. As some municipalities are less prosperous than others, the right to use an interpreter has, to a certain extent, depended on the financial status of the Deaf person’s home municipality. The price of the interpreting service will not change, and the right to use an interpreter and the actual work of an interpreter will remain unaffected. The change will be carried out during 2009.
For the Finnish Association of Sign Language Interpreters the change will be a challenge. It will have the greatest impact on those interpreters working on a freelance basis or at regional interpreting centres.
No decisions have been made on the practical arrangements of the future interpreting services. A request of opinion is being drafted, and the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) is establishing a working group for the preparatory work.
The Finnish way of carrying out the Remember a friend! -campaign
The
Finnish Association of Sign Language Interpreters runs annualy a SAF
support campaign which is connected to Valentine’s Day and is thus
called ‘Kaverille kans’ – ‘Remember a friend’. By giving up the
Valentine’s Day’s pay, a Finnish Sign Language interpreter can assist a
colleague abroad to participate in one of the EFSLI or WASLI
conferences. The Finnish Association of Sign Language Interpreters
considers international interaction between Sign Language interpreters
utterly important and wants to contribute to the organizing of future
campaigns, as well. If a whole day’s pay seems to be too much, one can
choose to support the campaign more modestly. Next web-based Rememberg
a Friend -campaingn will take place between Feb 14th and May 1st. 2008!
Remember a friend – take an intern!
In 2007, it
became possible to support the Give up a day’s pay campaign in Finland
by donating human capital instead of financial capital.
During
the past couple of years, it has become increasingly difficult for the
students of Sign Language interpreting studies to find work experience
places and get practical training. Since work-integrated learning is
essential for Sign Language interpreting studies, everyone should
cooperate in taking the responsibility for educating competent and
professional future interpreters. Those interpreters already graduated
have themselves had the advantage of learning through work. Now, it is
time to remember a friend!
FIRST WEB PAGES COMPLETELY IN FINNISH SIGN LANGUAGE: www.via-ok.net/svk
Via Sign Language Sector Cooperative has launched a company web page in four languages, including a separate interface operating completely in Finnish Sign Language. The signed material was translated into FinSL by Via. Graphic design and technical production of the pages were by Kairo Graphics (http://www.kairo.fi/en/kairo/).
The visitor is guided through the pages with a signed navigation system thus avoiding unnecessary information in text. It is also now easy to give us feedback in Sign Language through a web camera.
You are welcome to visit our new web pages in Finnish, Finnish Sign Language, Swedish and English at www.via-ok.net/svk
More info from Anitta Malmberg (viestinta@via-ok.net)