German parliament welcomes its first deaf legislator

Heike Heubach, front centre, the first deaf member of the Bundestag, at the start of a meeting of the German federal parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

The German parliament has welcomed its first deaf legislator, who took her place in a moment that the house’s speaker described as historic.

Heike Heubach, 44, narrowly missed out on a seat in parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, in Germany’s 2021 election.