Also, the original headline says “mil” which in Norway generally refers to a distance of 10 kilometers, or historically 11.3 kilometers. I originally translated this word as “mile” but a Usonian mile is in fact way shorter than a Norwegian mile, hence I converted 100 Norwegian miles to 1,000 kilometers. This is roughly equal to 621 Usonian miles.

Edit: do not put me in charge of any measure of distance. Six-HUNDRED-and-TWENTY-ONE miles, not SIXTY-TWO.

Incidentally, according to Google Maps the distance between Balsfjord and Trondheim is only ~765 kilometers, so I don’t know what the deal with that number is. Again, the word they originally used was “100 mil”, so maybe there’s something I’m not getting.

Edit: Also, I tried to use lowercase deaf and uppercase Deaf in the appropriate places, whereas the original article doesn’t distinguish between these. I used the Norwegian rather than Sámi names of places, just like the original article, so I feel obligated to mention that Balsfjord is called Báhccavuotna in Northern Sámi. In Kven the municipality is called Paatsivuono. The town Nordkjosbotn is called Gárgán in Northern Sámi. Troms and Trondheim also have their own Sámi names, coming from Norse, these being Romsa (Northern Sámi) and Tråante (Southern Sámi). Troms is called Tromssa in Kven.

The family from Balsfjord has to travel to Trondheim up to four times a year to learn to talk to Edvin (age 1). They cannot afford this.

[Photo caption] Tor Sverre Iselvmo uses the signs he has learned so far to talk to his son Edvin. He wants to learn sign language, but this will cost the family roughly 55,000 NOK per year.

“Cool!”

“You’re building!”

Tor Sverre Iselvmo sits on the floor playing with Duplo blocks with his son Edvin, 14 months old.

He whispers his words such that they can barely be heard, simultaneously using sign language.

In February, he and [Edvin’s] mother Kajsa Søreng were informed that Edvin is completely deaf.

They had known that he had a hearing impairment. But on that February day, they were informed that he would never speak with his voice.

—“One gets very sad then and there, thinking about how his life is going to be. But we have through this process found out that he can live a completely normal life. He is not sick. The only thing that will be different is that he will use sign language,” says Søreng.

They must now learn a completely new language in order to communicate with their son. Edvin’s big sister Tilje must do the same.

Until Edvin is 16 years of age, his family will attend courses in Trondheim four times a year. A city more than 1,000 kilometers* away from their homes in Balsfjord Municipality in Troms County. That is the nearest offer.

Statped [State Special Pedagogical Service] covers board and lodging, and NAV [Labor and Welfare Administration] covers lost income. The municipalities cover travel expenses.

But it is not mandated by law for municipalities to cover travel. This is why the family has encountered a problem with Balsfjord Municipality. Because the municipality does not want to cover the entire cost of travel.

The [municipal] administration proposes to cover up to 15,000 NOK per year. The family must pay the rest out of pocket.

—“We have calculated that it will cost us in total 55,000 NOK per year out of pocket to learn our son’s language,” says Iselvmo.

That will amount to a total expenditure of 800,000 NOK for the family over the course of the next 15 years.

—“Worst case scenario is that we’ll need to move out of Balsfjord,” he says.

[Photo caption] On the wall by the play corner hangs diagrams of the names of different toys in sign language.

• The provinces* have long struggled with getting qualified sign language teachers. When Kristiane was eleven years old, she and her family had to move to another municipality to get a better offer. [This links to an article from September 2020]

*TL note: in Norwegian the term used here is distriktene, literally “the districts”, but this term is used identically to “the provinces” in English.

Northern municipalities often refuse

The municipality has calculated that it would cost 30,000 NOK per year for the parents to travel to Trondheim. Neither Tilje nor Edvin are included in the calculations.

The family were initially rejected by the municipality for any coverage. After talking to the chief executive, Iselvmo was told that the municipality would cover up to 15,000 NOK per year up to and including next year.

This will be discussed and sorted in an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee and municipal council on Monday.

The justification [document] states that [while] it is important for Edvin to be able to communicate with his nearest, Balsfjord Municipality is at the same time in an economically tight spot.

[The document] also states that [the municipality’s treatment of Edvin] can create a precedent for other legally non-mandated expenses such as accommodations in the form of extra resources in SFO [cf. after-school program] for students with special needs, or coverage of student transport across municipal lines for students who wish to go to Montessori schools.

—“They [the municipality] justify their decision by claiming that the municipal economy is more important than what’s best for children. I think that in a welfare state, a municipality should not get to decide a child’s future,” says Iselvmo.

[Photo caption] Like most children, Edvin thinks it’s fun to throw Duplo blocks on the floor. But he does not hear the loud sounds when he does this.

Petter Noddeland is the general secretary of the Norwegian Association of the Deaf. He is not surprised that the family has been met with opposition from the municipality.

—“We have heard of a number of cases, especially in Northern Norway, where they [the municipalities] refuse to cover expenses for d/Deaf and hard of hearing children,” he says.

He believes that the law is not clear enough when it comes to municipalities’ responsibilities, and that municipalities exploit this.

—“We consider this to be a violation of human rights. There is a human right to accessibility in one’s own language. This is also a violation of the Language Act,” says Noddeland.

[Photo caption] Petter Noddeland of the Norwegian Association of the Deaf believes that Balsfjord Municipality is violating human rights by refusing to cover the family’s travel expenses.

He points to that language deprivation in a child can lead to great challenges and costs for the child and for society as a whole in the long term.

A child can get behavioral problems, miss out on education and as an adult miss out on work.

—“If one starts with a good sign language offer, the child will grow up able to contribute to the workforce and to society. Everything starts with that a municipality covers travel expenses. That’s how simple it is, and that’s how serious it is,” says Noddeland.

[Photo caption] Kajsa, the mother, uses signs when she talks to both of her children. This way, the older sister can also learn to talk with her little brother.

—“Don’t send the invoice to the municipalities”

The chief executive of Balsfjord, Øyvind Korsberg, says that the family is being taken care of by the municipality to the greatest extent possible.

—“We’re trying the best we can to stretch ourselves just a little bit further, but we have a bigger picture to consider. And we have multiple families with corresponding difficulties who are not being covered by the government on any level,” the chief executive says.

[Photo caption] Chief executive Øyvind Korsberg believes that the Norwegian government must pay the travel expenses of families like Edvin’s.

[Korsberg] says he will notify the politicians that the [family’s travel] expenses are greater than the estimates they were using, and agree that 55,000 NOK per year is a lot for a family to pay.

He also points out that it will be much more expensive for a family living on the Finnmark Coast.

—“This is a national challenge that national authorities need to solve, rather than sending the invoice over to the municipalities. There ends up being a very big difference in how and how well things get treated depending on where in Norway you live, and I think that’s unfortunate,” says Korsberg.

[Photo caption] The parents understand that Edvin can lead a completely normal life, as long as he has a language.

—“There is a weakness in the central government’s regulations, but that doesn’t dismiss the municipality from its responsibility to make things right. It is important that parents are able to communicate with their own children,” says Fridtjof Winther.

He is a member of the Conservative Party in Balsfjord and is an opposition member of the municipal council. He believes that the municipality must cover all the travel expenses for the family.

Winther recognizes that the municipality is in an economically tight spot, but he believes that there are other ways in which it can save money.

—“I think first and foremost that it is unnecessary that they [the family] need to fight this battle against the municipality in order to get the resources they need to live here,” Winther says.

[Photo caption] Fridtjof Winther of the Conservative Party in Balsfjord believes that the municipality must pay the family’s travel expenses.

The Ministry of Education and Research informs NRK that the investigation “Sign Language for Life” contains suggestions to look at the [current] arrangement. The investigation is being looked at by the Ministry of Culture and Equality.

—“Being pressed out of the region”

At home in Nordkjosbotn, [Edvin’s] family has gone out into the yard to play. Kajsa the mother blows soap bubbles to Edvin and Tilje.

On the house wall hangs a “for sale” sign. The family has grown out of their rowhouse. But they are unsure if their next home will be in Balsfjord.

If they cannot cover all of their travel expenses, they’d consider it as necessary to move closer to Trondheim. Away from both family and friends, and from the municipality in which they have spent their entire lives.

Edvin is one of only some few [deaf] children who do not have the opportunity to get an implant to hear with, because he is missing inner ears. Today some 90~95% of all deaf children undergo an operation.

[Photo caption] The family has grown out of their current home. Now they don’t know if they will buy a new house in Balsfjord.

Both Iselvmo and Søreng are provoked by how it’s especially Northern municipalities who refuse to pay travel expenses.

—“It shows that Deaf people are not wanted here in Northern Norway. [Deaf people and their families] get pushed to move to Trondheim which has a strong Deaf milieu. And as a result of this, the Deaf milieu up here doesn’t develop”, Søreng says.