Language Justice means that everyone is listened to and understood without hierarchy, stigma, or shame. It honors our right to communicate our feelings and ideas, and demands we move in mutual respect for all people regardless of whether or how they sign, speak, or otherwise convey what’s on their mind or in their heart.

Sins Invalid commits to moving toward Language Justice by providing access to our shows and resources in American Sign Language, English, and Spanish as fully as we are able.

Sins Invalid knows:

• People communicate in a multitude of ways – through spoken language, through movement, through signs, through breathing, through electronics, through giving touch, through writing, through silence, through reading, through our eyes. There are as many ways to communicate as there are people. All types of communication are valid and important. What we choose to express is unique to us as individuals. Our communications, our expressions, are valuable.
• Language is vast and abundant. Some spoken languages include whistles and clicks. Some movement languages include sounds. Some languages are written while others are not. Some languages are used by just two people, some by 300 people, some by millions of people. There are no right or wrong languages. They are all precious means of expression.
• Our languages carry our cultures. They tie us to each other, to our ancestors, and to the way we understand life through the practice of naming.
• There are languages created and used specifically by disabled and Deaf people, as our bodyminds inform our means of expression. We use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), American Sign Language (ASL), Lengua de Señas Mexicana (LSM), Black American Sign Language (BASL), ProTactile Communication, with and through our trachs and our staccato breathing, through our brain fog and aphasia, through pain and pain meds, through masks and voice amplifiers, through text and videos, through our grunts and moans and sounding our worlds, through blinks and blowing through straws and more ways than we can outline.
• Language can give power. Language can take power away. Language can be used to normalize oppression. Language can also be used to disrupt, dismantle, and transform oppression. Language justice is about access – to communication, to relationship building, and to our communities.
• Language justice isn’t just about access, we strive to flatten hierarchies by creating spaces where each person is respected and where power is shared amongst speakers of all languages. Language justice centers multilingual access and decenters the supremacy of spoken English.

As with our other political commitments, we enter into Language Justice practice humbly, knowing that others have paved the way and that we are in a place of learning. We are excited to learn and invite others to share what they have learned about language justice with us and with others.

Sins Invalid believes in the power and brilliance of immigrant communities and Deaf communities and knows that our inclusion is key to achieving justice for all oppressed peoples.

Sins Invalid understands that Language Justice is Disability Justice.