#WhereIsTheInterpreter Campaign
Campaigns are super powerful when they are fuelled by collective action. This is when a group of people work together on a specific focus. This is what we have seen with the #WhereIsTheInterpreter campaign.
The deaf and interpreter community is coming together with a joint aim.
Daily emergency briefings
This started with the BBC main channel not having a Sign Language Interpreter for the daily emergency COVID briefings. This was made available on BBC Channel 107 and Freeview Channel 231, putting the onus on the deaf person to seek out the correct channel.
The image above (as pointed out by Channel 4), shows many other countries having an Interpreter on their main news broadcast. Rightly so, British deaf people are asking for the same.
Click here to read the joint statement that ASLI and NRCPD put together.
Other activities that have happened to push this campaign forward
- Numerous Petitions have been sent to Parliament
- Deaf campaigners have started legal proceedings against the Government with the premise that “critical information is not being conveyed”.
This all started when Lynn Stewart-Taylor first tweeted #WhereIsTheInterpreter on 9 March 2020.
The group of campaigners raised £7,865 to get the legal battle off the ground - SignHealth has been producing 2-minute daily Coronavirus up-dates in BSL
- And the story has even been featured in 10-20 mainstream media outlets too
This campaign is already allowing people to start thinking about what access really is. Also, addressing how certain groups of people are not currently treated equally.
Exciting opportunities
There is also the wider possibility that if this change is considered now, we could be in a position where all of the major broadcasts are made accessible in BSL.
A lot of this activity was happening during Deaf Awareness Week.
For all we know, this could, in fact, be the most historic Deaf Awareness Week we have ever seen.
How can you get involved?
If you would like to support this campaign, click below for a template letter to send to your MP:
Re: Inclusion of Dear people in live National addresses on Coronavirus
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NT6-aEMPPVUIqmdBqIRaWRr1AFhKZZua/view?fbclid=IwAR0pE3HXHZ_WkBv7v0w7Htb7F8lQNP6IKX0whovP1ESLrC724us-UTYCh5M
Find your MP:
https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
Birmingham Hall Green: tahir.ali.mp@parliament.uk
Blackpool: scott.benton.mp@parliament.uk
Brent Central: dawn.butler.mp@parliament.uk
Brighton: brightonoffice@parliament.uk
Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven: lloyd.russellmoyle.mp@parliament.uk
Bristol East: kerry.mccarthy.mp@parliament.uk
Bristol North West: darren.jones.mp@parliament.uk
Bristol: thangam.debbonaire.mp@parliament.uk
Bristol South: karin.smyth.mp@parliament.uk
Derby North: amanda.solloway.mp@parliament.uk
Derby South: margaret.beckett.mp@parliament.uk
Derbyshire Dales: sarah.dines.mp@parliament.uk
Mid Derbyshire: pauline.latham.mp@parliament.uk
Devon North: selaine.saxby.mp@parliament.uk
Devon Torridge and West: geoffrey.cox.mp@parliament.uk
Devon East: simon.jupp.mp@parliament.uk
Gloucester: richard.graham.mp@parliament.uk
London: SOTHCOTTT@parliament.uk
Cities of London and Westminster: nickie.aiken.mp@parliament.uk
East Londonderry: fieldingm@parliament.uk
Leeds: Hannah.bithell@leeds.gov.uk
Leeds: fabian.hamilton.mp@parliament.uk
Leeds Central: hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk
Leeds East: richard@richardburgon.com
Hertfordshire: oliver.heald.mp@parliament.uk
Hertfordshire South West: gagan.mohindra.mp@parliament.uk
Hull West and Hessle: emma.hardy.mp@parliament.uk
Manchester Central: contact@lucypowell.org.uk and tony.lloyd.mp@parliament.uk
Manchester Gordon: afzal.khan.mp@parliament.uk
Manchester Withington: jeff.smith.mp@parliament.uk
Nottingham North: alex.norris.mp@parliament.uk
Nottingham South: lilian.greenwood.mp@parliament.uk
Nottingham East: nadia.whittome.mp@parliament.uk
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport: luke.pollard.mp@parliament.uk
South Gloucestershire Avon Filton and Bradley Stoke: jack.lopresti.mp@parliament.uk
Wolverhampton South West: stuart.anderson.mp@parliament.uk
York: julian.sturdy.mp@parliament.uk
York Central: rachael.maskell.mp@parliament.uk
Yorks: rishi.sunak.mp@parliament.uk
