Over 70 million people in the world use sign languages as their first or “heart” language. Over 400 sign languages exist in the world today but only 10% of the global Deaf community have any scripture available and those that do have very little.
Just one sign language, ASL, has a full Bible which was completed in 2020.
United Bible Societies is working closely with international partners to help meet the significant scripture needs of this unreached people group.
There are currently over 30 ongoing Sign Language Projects facilitated by national Bible Societies around the world and more are in the planning stages. This work has the potential to impact over 12 million Deaf people and will continue to develop as Bible Societies and their partners invest in training and support for the growing number of Deaf translation teams.