The Association of Sweden's Deafblind Stockholm Gotland and Stockholm Deaf Pensioners' Association have long advocated for senior guidance services for the deaf in Stockholm City, with a decision included in the city's budget for 2026. Officials from the Elderly Administration were tasked with developing a requirement profile and job description, and the first advertisement went out before Christmas last year, stating that the position requires the applicant to speak Swedish and be trained as a sign language interpreter. The advertisement was withdrawn after reactions, and a new advertisement was developed that better matched the associations' vision of the position as a guide and bridge-builder, but it still included the competency requirement to be able to speak.
This prompted three associations to join together and make a joint report to the Discrimination Ombudsman. According to SVT Nyheter, Elsa Brunemalm described that Stockholm City seems to have forgotten that deaf and deafblind people are also competent and can work, with ignorance and prejudices shining through, and that this group is excluded from the recruitment process due to the requirements. She added that deaf and deafblind people could contribute enormously with their special competence, and the city's disability council for work environment issues agrees this can be considered discrimination.
There it stated that the position requires the applicant to speak Swedish. It was also a requirement to be trained as a sign language interpreter in the advertisement, but the position does not involve translating information but being a guide. The advertisement stood in stark contrast to our original idea. We pointed this out to the politicians and the administration who withdrew the advertisement.
There is an ongoing dialogue with politicians and the administration, and according to SVT Nyheter, Elsa Brunemalm described that there seems to be some understanding the wording was not good, but the city has still chosen to proceed because it believes time is short with an upcoming election that may affect implementation. Recruitment is now ongoing, but it remains unknown what specific actions Stockholm City will take in response to the discrimination report or whether the process will be halted. The exact timeline for when the senior guidance services will be operational is also unclear.
Stockholms stad verkar ha glömt att personer som är döva och dövblinda också är kompetenta och kan arbeta, men här lyser okunskapen och fördomarna igenom. Döva och dövblinda skulle kunna bidra oerhört till med sin särskilda kompetens.
We decided to join three associations and make a joint report to DO. We have an ongoing dialogue with the politicians and the administration and there seems to be some understanding that the wording in the advertisement was not good, but they have still chosen to proceed. Stockholm City believes that time is short and there is an upcoming election which may affect this, so they wanted to proceed with the advertisement anyway to have time to implement the decision so recruitment is now ongoing.
It is incredibly important that they have time to implement this and that Stockholm City takes its responsibility.