Senator Luis Daniel Colón La Santa announced on Wednesday that he has filed Senate Bill 1476, which would make it public policy to integrate Puerto Rican Sign Language (PRSL) and American Sign Language (ASL) as a formal academic course in the public education system. The bill would also authorize an occupational pathway in Sign Language Translation and Interpretation.
Colón La Santa said in written statements that the initiative seeks to open new educational doors for students and move toward a society with more tools to communicate with and include the deaf community, calling sign language a language with identity, culture and enormous social value that also offers young people professional opportunities. The bill sets up a pilot program at the Juan Ponce de León Specialized Language School in Humacao, where sign language would become a fifth language alongside English, German, French and Italian.
The senator said he wants the project to eventually extend to other schools, preparing young people for a profession that provides essential services in schools, hospitals, courts and agencies. According to the bill’s statement of motives, about 250,000 people in Puerto Rico have some degree of hearing loss or impairment. The school has roughly 303 students; a student survey cited in the bill found 81% favor offering sign language as a curricular language and 77% are interested in an interpretation occupational pathway. The proposal has the endorsement of the school’s Consejo Escolar (school council).