New international project at CIIE | Erasmus+ programme

‘Social Haptic Signs for Deaf and Blind in Education’

Portuguese team led by Orquídea Coelho


The proposal ‘Social Haptic Signs for Deaf and Blind in Education’, submitted in March to the Swedish national agency of the European Erasmus+ programme, has been approved for funding.

With a duration of 36 months (from September 2019 to August 2022), this project brings together four partner teams from Sweden, Portugal, Estonia and Italy, and is coordinated by Thomas Lydell (European Sign Language Centre, Sweden). The Portuguese team, based at CIIE/FPCEUP, is coordinated by Orquídea Coelho and is made up of deaf and hearing researchers and professionals from different institutions.

 
The main aim of this research/intervention project is to research, record and disseminate haptic signs used in the context of haptic communication in educational contexts with deafblind people or deaf people with low vision.


Haptic gestures are used in a complementary way to other communication systems, including sign languages, to convey information about spatial configuration, emotions, actions and other aspects inherent in a communication situation.