German parliament welcomes its first deaf lawmaker

Lawmaker Heike Heubach, front center, the first deaf member of the Bundestag, sits between members of the faction of the German Social Democrats (SPD) at the start of a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, March 21, 2024. The German parliament on Thursday welcomed its first deaf lawmaker, who took her place in a development that the house's speaker described as historic. Heike Heubach narrowly missed out on a seat in the Bundestag, in Germany's 2021 election. But she joined the house this week as a replacement for Uli Groetsch. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)