THE 19th WFDYS BOARD MEETING AND THE WFD/EUD CONFERENCE ON SIGN LANGUAGES AS ENDANGERED LANGUAGES IN ÅL, NORWAY

The 19th WFDYS Board meeting was held in ÅL, Norway from 1 – 6 November 2011. The ÅL FOLKEHØYSKOLE hosted the meeting, around 4-hour drive north from the city Oslo. The meeting was longer than usual because most of the WFDYS board members were newly elected at the last General Assembly in South Africa. We were very fortunate to have the WFD Honorary President Mr Markku Jokinen who gave a brilliant and exceptional workshop about the work that WFD has done at the international level with agencies such as the United Nations, the International Disability Alliance, UNICEF, UNESCO, ILO, WHO and with each national association of the deaf working on the ground around the world.

Ambrose Murangira, the president of the Ugandan National Association for the Deaf (UNAD), Dennis Hoogeveen and Delphine le Maire, from European Union of the Deaf Youth (EUDY) observed the proceedings.

WFDYS board members attended the conference on the theme of “Sign Languages as Endangered Languages”, jointly hosted by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and European Union of the Deaf (EUD). The WFD and WFDYS board members were invited to the Oslo Deaf Association, a local Deaf Club of the Norwegian Federation of the Deaf.