Denmark country report

We have 5.4 million people in Denmark and 4000 deaf sign language users. In 1866 the first deaf association was established and in 1977 the interpreter association was established.

There are 231 interpreters employed and 30 self employed. We work in a variety of settings such as education, hospitals, etc. We are faced with increased decentralisation. We would like to share this with you since we advise you not to go this way.

Almost all deaf babies have cochlear implants. This means no sign language is taught to deaf children and the deaf day care and schools are closing down, laying of all the (deaf) staff. We do not know what this means for the future. There will be less interpreters needed and the challenging question is how do we keep sign language alive in coutrnies where they perform CI on all kids.

One very positive development is the online dictionairy on Danish Sign Language: www.tegnsprog.dk