Through the silence with the wind

The project “Through the silence with the wind” is a joint action started in 2002 by the Adriatic Skippers’ Association and the Deaf and Impaired Hearing Association of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. It is a unique project in Croatia and, as far as we know, in the whole of Europe as well. Its main goal is to create a new sign language to enable people with impaired hearing to actively participate in recreational and also more demanding competitive sailing.

The aim of the project is also to make everyone in the community more sensitive towards deaf people. In the project, we create opportunities for deaf people to socialise with people with good hearing and break down the barriers between these two groups. We all know that recreation and sport are among the most important psycho-physical activities in the healthy development of any person. Unfortunately, disabled people do not have access to certain sports, although they have very good results and success in those that they can do. Deaf and people with impaired hearing do not have any physical handicap and are therefore able to do most sports.