The Deaf People of Venezuela

Venezuelan Sign Language (LSV) emerged with the founding of the first deaf school in 1935 and is used by a national deaf community that appears to have significant contact with each other due to high degrees of mobility. The Venezuelan signing deaf community, with an estimated 15,000 to 52,000 members, appears to be growing in strength and vitality. As a unique ethnolinguistic culture, they are fighting for their linguistic and social needs. Progress is being made by the efforts of the Venezuelan government, deaf associations, and supportive organizations through bilingual education, increase of interpreters and interpreter training, unified national and regional deaf associations, the recognition of LSV’s importance by the government, and the growing body of LSV linguistic publications and resources.