The Communication Centre for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Deaf Icelandic signers born 1900 - 1949
27th September 2024
The Communication Centre’s policy for 2024-2026 states that it will try to increase the availability of published symbolic cultural material, including the publication of interviews with Icelandic sign language speakers on SignWiki.
The publication of interviews with deaf signers is also in line with the government’s goal to increase services for sign language speakers, as stated in the financial plan 2025-2029, and the Icelandic sign language language policy, which emphasises the preservation of the language and the public release of preserved material.
Therefore, in celebration of International Day of Doom in 2024, SHH publishes on SignWiki interviews with two of the oldest signers of Icelandic sign languages that are available. These are Sigríður Kolbeinsdóttir, who was born in 1900 and Paula Elínborg Michelsen, who was born in 1911. The interviews can be found on SignWiki under “History and Culture”, in a subcategory named “Málhafar ÍTM, f. 1900-1949”. Some of the interviews can be viewed with an Icelandic translation, but SHH is in the process of finishing to translate the interviews and text them in full.
https://is.signwiki.org/index.php/Flokkur:Málhafar_ÍTM,_fæddir_1900-1949