The German parliament on Thursday welcomed its first deaf lawmaker, Heike Heubach.
The 44 year old Lawmaker narrowly missed out on a seat in parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, in Germany’s 2021 election.
She however joined the house this week as the replacement for Uli Grötsch, a fellow member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats from Bavaria, who took a newly created job as an independent commissioner for police issues.
Heubach, who has a background as an industrial manager, was welcomed with applause and with waving hands by her fellow lawmakers.
Speaker Bärbel Bas, while addressing parliament, described the day as historic.
German News Agency DPA reported that a sign language interpreter stood next to the podium to interpret for Heubach when she initially took a place in the front row.
Heubach will have a fixed place in the plenary hall, unlike most other lawmakers, according to the Bundestag’s administration, with interpreters located near her to interpret speeches and her questions. When she makes speeches herself, an interpreter with a microphone will have a place next to the Bundestag’s stenographers to interpret for other lawmakers.
Source: 9News with input from NIM