For a more equitable and inclusive world, under Brasil's presidency, the G20 will have informative content in Libras

The G20 Communication team partnered with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) to provide informative content in Brazilian Sign Language – Libras. "Starting today (26th), National Day of Death in Brasil, videos from the G20's YouTube the channel will have Libras translation, thanks to the work of translators from the University's Libras Department." It is also planned to translate the G20 e-book into Sign Language. The digital book will be in the format of videos – a V-Book.

The project was created to implement accessibility in the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom). Furthermore, the Deaf community proposed the e-book in Libras for the G20. The initiative is important because it will reach more than 10 million Deaf people in Brasil, according to the 2010 Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Adviser Maria Cristiane Menezes of SECOM's Social Participation and Diversity Advisory (Apadi) is happy to contribute to a pioneering project within the G20. "The federal government has this openness to include people living with disabilities and mainly seek to reduce the communication barrier."

"I will always watch the G20 videos in Libras"

On a night of heavy rain and thunder when Kátia Lucy Pinheiro was a baby, the parents realized that the girl did not cry like her cousin of the same age lying next to her. They sought a doctor and the Ludovico Pavoni Hearing and Language Educational Center (CEAL-LP) in Brasilia, and the diagnosis of Deafness was confirmed. The family moved to Fortaleza, in the state of Ceará, where Kátia began her studies at the Hellen Keller Institute and in public and private schools. However, the teaching of Libras was not yet offered. She only started studying Brazilian Sign Language during her teenage years at the Association of the Deaf of Ceará. "That's when I got a real language, I learned it very fast and I consider Libras my first language, Portuguese is my second," she says proudly of her trajectory. Nowadays, Kátia is a professor and director of the Libras Department of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), pursuing a postdoctoral degree, and being a reference for the Deaf community of Ceará.

For the professor, seeing the G20 content in Libras is very important because it values Sign Language and expands access to more Brazilians, as is the case of translating G20 content into Indigenous languages. Daily, through social media, newspapers, books, and within the Deaf and academic communities, Kátia is in contact with her first language. She adds that she will stay informed: 'I will always watch the G20 videos in Libras. I think it’s great because they provide information about Brasil and the world.”

*Translated by PGET-UFSC