Cyprus
Legal Recognition
"Sign Language Legislation in the European Union", Wheatley, M., A. Pabsch., Edition II. Brussels, EUD, 2012:
"Cyprus Sign Language was recognised in a 2006 Act (Act on the Recognition of Cyprus Sign Language 66(1) 2006). Apart from recognising CSL, it also suggests to add Cypriot Sign Language to the curricu8lum in public schools as a foreign language (Article 6(2)(F)). Article 4 also recognises CSL as an additional qualification for the recruitment of civil service staff, if it is necessary for them to have direct contact with Deaf people. (...)
Cypriot Sign Language is currently taught at training centres of the Ministry of Education (Lemesos, Nicosia, Larnaka, and Paphos."
"The status of sign languages in Europe", Nina Timmermans, ISBN 92-871-5720-0 © Council of Europe, April 2005
"The impact on deaf adults in Cyprus of the trend in Europe and the USA for sign language to be recognised as a linguistically complete and therefore autonomous language, on the one hand, and the recognition of the right of the deaf to have and use their own language within their own culture, on the other hand, has been strong enough to raise their self-awareness and enable them to feel positively about sign language.The Cyprus Sign Language is currently in a transitional stage. It received and continues to receive strong influences mainly from the American Sign Language and the Greek Sign.
(...)
It is a fact that the Cyprus Sign Language linguistically is steadily being enriched and upgraded. Although it has not yet become a fully developed language, it appears to be in the dynamics of becoming an effective mode of communication, especially for the adult deaf. It also appears to be the central constituent of the emerging concept of Cyprus Deaf Culture.
(...)
Furthermore, the organisations of the deaf demand from the Cyprus Government to recognise, by legislation, the Cyprus Sign Language as the official language of the deaf."
Number of Deaf Sign Language Users
1.000 (EUD website, December 2016)
