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Sally Reynolds, Victoria Nelson, and Sarah Cassandro

 

 

In response to the Government’s failure to supply British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreters at the Covid-19 Government briefings Lynn Stewart-Taylor started the #WhereIsTheInterpreter campaign.  A case was brought to court and in 2021 the court ruling that the UK Government had breached the Equality Act when it failed to provide on-platform interpreters for it’s Covid-19 briefings, was a landmark success in Deaf history.   Claims are now being brought for compensation as well as policy change.

 

#WhereIsTheInterpreter

In response to the Government’s failure to supply British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreters at the Covid-19 Government briefings Lynn Stewart-Taylor started the #WhereIsTheInterpreter campaign.  A case was brought to court and in 2021 the court ruling that the UK Government had breached the Equality Act when it failed to provide on-platform interpreters for it’s Covid-19 briefings, was a landmark success in Deaf history.   Claims are now being brought for compensation as well as policy change.

 

The Welsh Government

The Welsh Government lead the way in making the Covid-19 briefings accessible to their deaf viewers by consistently having a BSL interpreter available for almost all their briefings.  Downing Street – Take note!

BSL Act Now!

The British Deaf Association is behind the BSL Act Now! campaign and has been working to get the attention of Government and along with the dedicated support from the deaf community gain awareness and support from the wider public this has now reached a pivotal moment.  

On 28th January Parliament debate the BSL Bill brought forward by Rosie Cooper. MP, in the next step in British Sign Language (BSL) being recognised as a official language. 

If the Bill passes this stage, then it will next go to committee stage, and following this a third reading later this year. 

Find out more here 

#StillSickOfIt

On the 16th January 2025, SignHealth, with host Deepa Shastri, held a webinar to give an update on issues with access to healthcare and what needs to change to improve the health of deaf people. This webinar was attended by nearly 200 people.  

“10 years ago, SignHealth published the report ‘Sick Of It’, this talked about the poor access to healthcare that deaf people face, including late diagnosis or even misdiagnoses… this is obviously a health inequality, and really very little has changed since then. We’re still facing the same issues, the same barriers, the same situation. So, enough is enough.” Lucy Warnes, Interim Chief Executive at SignHealth

You can find out more on what’s next here https://signhealth.org.uk/blog/its-not-new-we-are-still-sick-of-it/

BSL in our hands

The British Deaf Association is running a campaign #BSLinOurHands demanding a world where every deaf child has the language to share their hopes, dreams, fears and ideas. We want British Sign Language in the hands of those who need it most.

“The critical period is a brief time window, usually between the ages of 0 and 5 years, where the brain needs good quality language input. If children do not have the opportunity to learn language within the first five years of their lives, they usually never develop fluent language skills. The critical period also applies to sign languages. Often, deaf children do not have full access to language during the critical period. This is known as ‘language deprivation’.” Dr Kate Rowley, DCAL

More information can be found here: https://bda.org.uk/bsl-in-our-hands/

NAD and the White House settle

The White House and NAD settled at law suit in March 2021 in response to the lack of ASL Interpreters at White House Covid-19 press conferences.  Another success for accessibility and inclusion.  Find out more here.

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