Deafness in Sweden
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Deafness In Sweden
Sweden is home to around 8,000 deaf sign language users and 600 Swedish Sign Language interpreters. [1]
Human/Civil Rights
The World Federation for the Deaf is an organization that focuses on ensuring the human and civil rights for all Deaf people are protected by their individual legislatures. [2] They do this by referring to the UN Committee on Rights for Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) which addresses some key areas of concern for disabled persons across the world.[3] They specifically focus on the following sections:
- Article 2 – Definition
- Article 9 – Accessibility
- Article 21 – Freedom of expression, opinion, and access to information
- Article 24 – Education
- Article 30 – Participation in cultural life, recreation leisure and sport[2]
These are all detailed in the UN CRPD which is why the following section refers to that document to assess the state of human and civil rights for the deaf in Sweden.
The UN CRPD was signed in Sweden in 2007 and ratified in 2008. [1] Sweden's law was found to be in good accordance with the UN CRPD so not much changed as far as the state legislation or the available resources [4]. However, parts of the UNCRPD have been adopted into Swedish law, for example, as of 2013, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and as of 1 January 2020 the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).[4] These have both been signed into law in Sweden. These are considered preemptive efforts and the Swedish government plans to continue to evaluate the effects of incorporating these conventions before continuing to incorporate the UNCRPD in its entirety into law.[4]
Despite the amount of legal protections, Swedish citizens have voiced that there is still room for improvement in the disability rights of deaf and hard of hearing people in Sweden [5]. The most recent report from 2023 replies to complaints that the implementation of disability policy has been a particular shortcoming saying that the Swedish government has many systems in place to observe implementation on state, local and regional levels.[4] Swedish citizens have also asked for the Swedish government disclose the specific parts of the Swedish disability legislation to see if it falls in line with the things outlined in the UN CRPD as they feel as though it is not being appropriately implemented and that the UN CRPD does in fact need to be adopted in it's entirety. [5]The point being made in these reports is that despite the fact the Swedish government has most of their bases covered legally, they are not actually implementing policy in the ways they should be.[4] [5]
Sign Languages
Swedish Sign language is the recognized sign language in the state of Sweden and has about 8,000 scattered speakers making up about .1% of the population[6]. It is a deaf community sign language used since 1800 with the first deaf school established in 1809[6]. Swedish sign language is sometimes referred to as SSL and sometimes referred to as STS[6]. Sweden recognized sign language first in 1981 giving Swedish signers access to interpretation in public places as well as access to Swedish Sign Language use in school[7]. The Language Law of 2009 recognizes SSL in a way similar to the other 5 minority languages (Sámi, Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani Chib, and Yiddish) making it a more official recognition that requires its promotion and encouragement and makes acquisition of deaf education easier. [7]
Finland- Swedish Sign Language also known as FinnSSL is another sign language present in Sweden despite its emergence at a deaf school in Finland [8]. The language is much less popular and is actually considered an endangered language with only about 300 speakers remaining [8]. The language borrows from Finnish Sign Language (FinSL), Swedish Sign Language (SSL), and Swedish [8]. It is a deaf community sign language that developed in conjunction with the founding of the first deaf school in Porvoo, Finland[8]. The school closed in 1993 and the language died out with it. Most people switched to FinSL after its popularity dwindled despite the fact that is was mainly developed from SSL [8].
Newborn Hearing Screening
Newborn hearing screenings are not mandated but, over 95% of newborns in Sweden are screened for hearing at birth.[9] 2.1% of newborns screened fail their screening and 1.8% of kids screened are determined to have hearing loss.[9] For those newborns who do get screened, receiving a diagnosis happens between 1-14 months of age with the mean age being 6 months old and receiving treatment happens around the same time. [9] For those who do not get screened, receiving a diagnosis happens most at 38 months (3 years) and receiving treatment happens around the same time. [9] 90% of screenings take place at birth facilities and 2% take place at ENT/Audiology Clinics. [9] However, 30% of screenings are done by audiologists, 30% are done by nurses and 40% are done by midwives. [9]
Early Intervention
In Sweden, children have access through the medical system to rehabilitation centers that connect them with the necessary resources to be referred to audiologists and possibly receive hearing aids or cochlear implants as well as state-sponsored introductory sign language courses for families [10].
There are two main perspectives on the development of DHH children that are widely accepted in Sweden; cultural-linguistic and medical. Parents are often met with the medical perspective first and due to this, the wide access that Swedish DHH children have to hearing aids and cochlear implants is the first and therefore best intervention that parents hear about [10].
There are many organizations that serve DHH children in Sweden, some adopting the cultural-linguistic perspective and some adopting the medical perspective, these organizations are often at odds with each other as one camp believes the other is not informing parents enough of their options [10].
Parents note that professionals from both camps (cultural-linguistic and medical) introduce them to the importance of SSL and give them resources to take courses in the language [10]. However, most families stop taking courses after an introductory course offered by the County Council [10].
Deaf Education
The state of Sweden has a public, compulsory education for children aged 7-16 [11]. These schools are inclusive of students with all abilities as required by the state including visual and hearing disorders [11]. There was a large scale school reform in 1962 that was not fully recognized until 1980 that supported children with special education needs being in class with their non-disabled peers [11].
As Swedish Sign Language (SSL) was recognized as an official language in Sweden in 1981, access to bilingual education in both Swedish and SSL began to spread across the country as early as 1983 [12]. This education model existed mainly in specialty schools for the deaf where SSL is the primary language of instruction and Swedish is taught mainly as a written language[12]. However, as the state encourages all schools to be inclusive of deaf and hard of hearing students, this model also exists for deaf students in mainstream public schools [12]. Later, the national curriculum was revised to require the bilingual model as opposed to recommending it and added that deaf children gain proficiency in written English as well. [12]
Today, Swedish families have more autonomy with where their child goes to school [12]. It was at one time assumed that all deaf children would prefer to go to a special school but with the popularization of Cochlear Implants in Sweden (around 90% of children born deaf are implanted), fewer deaf or hard of hearing children attend specialty schools for the deaf[12]. However, regardless of the kind of school a deaf or hard of hearing student attends, the Swedish government stresses the importance of bilingual education [12].
Bibliography
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Sweden". European Union of the Deaf. Retrieved 2026-10-15.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Human Rights - World Federation of the Deaf". https://wfdeaf.org/. Retrieved 2026-09-23. External link in
|website=(help) - ↑ "Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities". OHCHR. Retrieved 2026-09-23.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - Combined second and third periodic reports submitted by Sweden under article 35 of the Convention pursuant to the optional reporting procedure, due in 2019". September 23. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - List of issues in relation to the initial report of Sweden, adopted by the Committee at its tenth session (2–13 September 2013)".
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Sweden Languages, Literacy, & Maps (SE) | Ethnologue Free". Ethnologue (Free All). Archived from the original on 2026-01-07. Retrieved 2026-09-24.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Faingold, Eduardo D. (2023), "Language Rights and the Law in Sweden", Language Rights and the Law in Scandinavia, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 11–57, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-43017-6_2, ISBN 978-3-031-43016-9, retrieved 2026-09-24
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Ethnologue. "Finland-Swedish Sign Language".
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Neumann, Katrin; Euler, Harald; Chadha, Shelly; White, Karl (2020-10-29). "A Survey on the Global Status of Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening". Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention. 5 (2): 63–84. doi:10.26077/a221-cc28. ISSN 2381-2362.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Holmström, Ingela (2022-06-08). "Communication, Information, and Support for Swedish Parents with Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Children". Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. 24 (1). doi:10.16993/sjdr.876. ISSN 1745-3011.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Blossing, Ulf; Söderström, Åsa (2014), Blossing, Ulf; Imsen, Gunn; Moos, Lejf, eds., "A School for Every Child in Sweden", The Nordic Education Model, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 17–34, doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7125-3_2, ISBN 978-94-007-7124-6, retrieved 2026-10-15
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 Svartholm, Kristina (2010-03-01). "Bilingual education for deaf children in Sweden". International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Routledge. 13 (2): 159–174. doi:10.1080/13670050903474077. ISSN 1367-0050.
