International Day of Sign Languages
Next: September 23, 2027
Say it with your hands.
The story
Where it comes from
The UN General Assembly proclaimed 23 September the International Day of Sign Languages in December 2017, on a proposal from the World Federation of the Deaf; the first observance was in 2018. The date is the anniversary of the federation's founding in Rome in 1951. It falls within the International Week of Deaf People.
How it's celebrated
Deaf associations hold public sign-language lessons, performances and marches; landmarks are lit blue; governments are pressed to give national sign languages legal recognition. Many hearing people learn to sign a greeting or a thank-you for the day.
Did you know
- There are more than 300 sign languages in the world; they are full natural languages, not signed versions of spoken ones, and differ even between countries that share a spoken language.
- Around 70 million deaf people worldwide use sign language as their first language.
- New Zealand Sign Language has been an official language of New Zealand since 2006, alongside Māori. English, though spoken everywhere, has no official status in law.
Coming up next
- World Gorilla Day · September 24, 2027
- World Pharmacists Day · September 25, 2027
- European Day of Languages · September 26, 2027
- World Rivers Day · September 26, 2027
- International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons · September 26, 2027
- World Tourism Day · September 27, 2027