Dr. Alan Hurwitz, Vice President for RIT and Dean, NTID, and Dr. Denise Kavin were two of the representatives for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and PEN-International at the 15th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf held in Madrid, Spain, from 16 - 22 July, 2007. The theme of the conference, planned jointly with the Spanish National Confederation of Deaf People, was “Human Rights Through Sign Languages”, and there were approximately 1,500 participants from over 100 countries. Conference tracks and presentations covered the topics of: Human Rights, Education, Immigrants, Youth, Business, Technology, Mental Health, Developing Countries, Women, Other Disabilities, Medicine- biotechnology, Indigenous, Sign Languages, Children of Deaf Adults, Senior Citizens, Deafblind, Interpreters, and LGTB. There were also cultural activities such as exhibitions, theater performances, and art shows.
During the conference, Dr. Hurwitz and Dr. Kavin held meetings with key WFD board members and personnel regarding future involvement by NTID and PEN-International with WFD activities and conferences. In addition, a productive meeting was held with the presidents of the All Russia Federation of the Deaf and the Moscow Federation of the Deaf to discuss collaboration on the establishment and expansion of a training program for sign language interpreters throughout Russia. Several of PEN-International's partner and affiliate countries were also represented at the conference including China, Japan, Russia, Korea, Hungary, and the Philippines.
