Members of Greece's Deaf community joined several thousand demonstrators who gathered for a rally in Athens Tuesday. People without vision or hearing joined protestors in wheelchairs in front of the
parliament building. They are protesting benefit cuts that include payments for sign language interpreters. The country's interpreter program was basically suspended this summer due to Greece's financial crisis, leaving many without interpreters for job interviews or even when dealing with police. The service is used by some 15,000 people. Interpreters are required to go through six years of training, but were paid less than minimum wage with no travel expenses. And that was before the program was shut down. Below is a video of another protest at the parliament building this week over the government's austerity measures (no captioning).Friday, December 16, 2011
Crisis in Greece
Members of Greece's Deaf community joined several thousand demonstrators who gathered for a rally in Athens Tuesday. People without vision or hearing joined protestors in wheelchairs in front of the
parliament building. They are protesting benefit cuts that include payments for sign language interpreters. The country's interpreter program was basically suspended this summer due to Greece's financial crisis, leaving many without interpreters for job interviews or even when dealing with police. The service is used by some 15,000 people. Interpreters are required to go through six years of training, but were paid less than minimum wage with no travel expenses. And that was before the program was shut down. Below is a video of another protest at the parliament building this week over the government's austerity measures (no captioning).
