2024-03-23 17:49:46
The replacement, Heike Heubach, is a novelty in the Bundestag: for the first time there is a deaf member. This poses challenges – but the Social Democrat is confident.
The SPD politician Heike Heubach was welcomed on Thursday as the first deaf member of the Bundestag. There was loud and also silent applause from the MPs present in the plenary session with raised, waving hands – the gesture for applause. “Today we are actually making history, if I may put it like that. We have the first deaf MP who will get involved here for her constituency,” said Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) at the opening of the meeting. “We are really looking forward to our colleague and her work here in the company.”
On Tuesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz greeted Heubach with his hands raised at their first SPD parliamentary group meeting. There was a firm, warm hug from parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich.
The 44-year-old Heubach replaces SPD politician Uli Grötsch, who was elected federal police commissioner last week. In the 2021 federal election, the trained industrial clerk narrowly missed out on entering parliament for the Augsburg-Land constituency.
Heubach sat in the front row to greet us
“After the previous media hustle and bustle, I noticed for the first time in the middle of the group meeting that I was sitting here in the group meeting and then also as a member of Parliament in the future,” Heubach told the German Press Agency (dpa). She was pleasantly surprised by the variety of topics and the open exchange.
When she was welcomed to the Bundestag, Heubach initially sat in the front row next to SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich. A sign language interpreter stood next to the lectern and translated what was being said in her direction. The new MP later retreated to a seat further back in the plenary, where two interpreters sat in front of her to interpret the rest of her speeches.
Whether in a conversation with members of parliament or during a photo session on one of the Bundestag terraces – the interpreter always signs what is being said and in turn translates the signs into spoken language. “It works really well, we become a well-coordinated team after just a short time,” says Heubach about her first experiences with her team of interpreters. She doesn’t worry about missing out on anything. “The interpreters have the task of translating everything, and I trust that.”
Heubach: “Everything is going like clockwork at the moment”
According to the Bundestag administration, she will have a permanent place in the plenary session in the ranks of the SPD parliamentary group – unlike her colleagues. A sign language interpreter near her should translate the speeches of other MPs and make her questions understandable to the plenary session. There should also be a corresponding solution for her work in the committee – Heubach will work on the building committee. “Housing must become affordable again,” she says.
The new MP would also like to devote herself to equal rights for women and men, environmental protection and the visibility of people with disabilities. When she gives a speech in the chamber, a simultaneous interpreter will be given a seat with a microphone next to the stenographers to translate the speech for the other MPs. “The organization of the Bundestag administration, the parliamentary group and the interpreters went very well. We are all in a learning process,” says Heubach. “At the moment everything is going like clockwork.”
Time for a more inclusive political landscape
Heubach’s entry marks the beginning of a new development in the Bundestag, which also sets an example. The German Association of the Deaf recognizes Heubach’s arrival as a “great achievement” of the SPD politician. President Helmut Vogel tells dpa that she fought hard for her participation in the democratic process.
“We hope that Heike Heubach’s example will help to increase the visibility and acceptance of deaf people in politics.” Society must recognize that deaf people can be politically active, but need support in communication. “It is time for us all to fight together for a more inclusive political landscape.”
The Federal Government’s Commissioner for the Disabled, Jürgen Dusel, emphasizes that the Bundestag must now become barrier-free – “and that from one day to the next. That should actually be the norm and not a challenge.” He would like the MPs and the Bundestag administration to be “open and willing to see Heike Heubach’s work as an opportunity and enrichment, and to seize the opportunity to be a role model for inclusion.” Ultimately, parliament should be a reflection of society. Only through equal rights and encounters could reservations be overcome.