First Official Dictionary of the Sao Tomean Sign Language

It was launched on July 10, 2014, at the Portuguese Cultural Centre, in Sao Tome, the first Dictionary of Sign Language of Sao Tome and Principe, born out of the need to improve the quality of life and combat the isolation of the deaf community of Sao Tome, consisting of about 5.000 people, or 3% of the population of this small archipelago of 180.000 inhabitants.

Optimizing the teaching ability, learning and social integration, and in order to break the existing linguistic constraints, this dictionary is developed under the project ” No Barriers” promoted by the Portuguese Catholic University, the Otolaryngology Department of Hospital CUF Infante Santo and the IMVF, with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Training and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Sao Tome and Principe.