DCAL, Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre

DCAL is pleased to announce that Dr Ádám Kósa MEP will be visiting the ESRC funded research centre on 8th March 2012.

Dr Ádám Kósa holds a unique position in the European Parliament, having been elected as its first-ever Deaf Member on 7th June, 2009. Dr Ádám Kósa was born in Budapest of Deaf parents and Magyar Jelnyelv (Hungarian Sign Language) is his first language.He is also fluent in Hungarian and English.

Before entering the European parliament Dr Kósa trained as a lawyer and was president of SINOSZ (the national Hungarian organisation representing Deaf and Hard of Hearing people).

Bencie Woll Director, DCAL Research Centre said:

"We are delighted to welcome Dr Kósa to DCAL. As a MEP he has focused a great deal of attention on the status of sign languages in Europe. In 2010 Dr Kósa hosted a conference at the European Parliament which resulted in the Brussels Declaration on Sign Languages in the European Union. The declaration set out principles through which sign language legislation can be brought forward right across the EU."

Dr Ádám Kósa will use the visit to DCAL to meet with representatives of Deaf organisations. He will also be speaking at 4pm in the DCAL library about his work as a Deaf MEP and the status of sign languages in Europe.   

This will be a RSVP-only event for space and catering purposes. The event is however open to individuals and organizations with an interest in the work of Dr Kósa and the status of sign languages in Europe.

For further information, contact:

•    Gwilym Morris on 07939 225085 gwilym@thepollneshop.co.uk

Notes to editors

1.    Dr Ádám Kósa was born in Budapest, Hungary of Deaf parents, and Magyar Jelnyelv (Hungarian Sign Language) is his first language. He studied law at the University of Pázmány Péter, qualifying as a lawyer in 2005. He became a lawyer because he wanted ‘to do away with discrimination’, but did not have interpreters for his university classes, and had to borrow notes from his classmates. As President of the Hungarian Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SINOSZ), he was approached by FIDESZ (Hungarian Civic Party) to stand as a MEP, and as 12th on a list of 14 SINOSZ candidates who were voted in by the Hungarian people, he became a Member of the European Parliament.

2.    Deafness Cognition and Language (DCAL) Research Centre is based at University College London. DCAL is a world renowned centre of excellence for research on BSL. The centre brings together leading Deaf and hearing researchers in the fields of sign linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience. DCAL is funded by The Economic Social Research Council (ESRC). 

3.    The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest funding agency for research, data resources and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It supports independent, high quality research which impacts on business, the public sector and the third sector. The ESRC's planned total expenditure in 2008/09 is £203 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes.