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BSL Blog 3 – Talking Politics in BSL
Talking Politics – in BSL
On 24 November 2009 I was one of over 100 Deaf people and others who attended a unique event in Glasgow. For the first time I can remember, a senior Government Minister met a room full of Deaf people – not just selected representatives – and gave us the chance to raise the issues that are important to us directly with Government:
BSL version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2NFW2t1WXs
Subtitled: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVmfumHYdl4
The Minister was Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister in the Scottish Government. The meeting was headlined ‘The National Conversation engages with Deaf People’. As the invitation said:
“The National Conversation is the debate on options for Scotland’s future, including independence. The Scottish Government is keen that as many people as possible have a chance to take part in the debate and are holding an event specifically for Deaf People, their families and professionals working with them.”
OK, all politicians have axes to grind! The SNP Government has its own reasons for wanting to highlight particular issues. Many Deaf people were more interested in demanding independence for Deaf people than in Scottish independence. But what was important was the fact that this was a genuine two-way conversation – in BSL and English – that recognised two things:
1) Deaf people must have a say in all matters that affect them, at national and other levels.
2) For Deaf people who use BSL, this is the language in which they should be allowed to express their views, and in which Government should talk to them.
The Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the UK Parliament all have cross-party groups, where politicians with an interest in Deaf issues meet regularly with representatives of the Deaf community. They are:
The Scottish Parliament – Cross-Party Group on Deafness
National Assembly for Wales – Cross Party Group on Deaf Issues
UK Parliament – All-Party Group on Deafness
But Deaf people are nearly always in a minority at these meetings. Public meetings such as the one in Glasgow, where Deaf BSL users are in the majority, or are present in large numbers, give us the confidence to ‘speak up for ourselves’ as citizens.
The Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government are ahead of their UK counterparts in terms of providing information in BSL. The Scottish Parliament gives quite a lot of information about how it works in BSL here:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/bsl/index.htm
Through its British Sign Language and Linguistic Access Working Group (BSL&LAWG), the Scottish Government’s Equality Unit has published a statement in both BSL and English on Linguistic Access for Deaf People:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/disability/remit
In 2009, the BSL & Linguistic Access Working Group published its landmark document ‘The Long & Winding Road – a Roadmap to British Sign language and Linguistic Access in Scotland’. The essential extracts of this Roadmap can be seen in both BSL and English on the BSL:UPTAKE website:
http://www.bsluptake.org.uk/?p=671
And we’re very pleased to say that BSL:UPTAKE has just translated an important consultation document into BSL for the Scottish Government Equality Unit. It’s about the Equality Duty that will soon apply to all public authorities, when the UK Government’s Equality Bill becomes law. The BSL translation of the summary and questionnaire is on our website:
http://www.bsluptake.org.uk/?p=1016
Deaf people’s responses in BSL will be translated into English, so that the Scottish Government can take their views into account when they decide what specific equality duties should be laid on public authorities in Scotland. Like the National Consultation meeting, this is a step forward, because it isn’t just about the Government explaining what they do – it’s letting Deaf people tell the Government what we want them to do – in our own language, BSL. Government and public bodies generally have got to do much more of this.
Deaf people are not only having their say in public meetings and consultations. There is a growing number of Deaf researchers and academics providing in-depth information about Deaf people’s experiences, needs and wants. Such research, by Deaf people and their hearing colleagues, can help to shape and improve public policy in relation to Deaf people.
More Deaf academics and researchers are now presenting their findings in both written English and BSL. A prime example of this is Dr Steve Emery’s important work Citizenship and the Deaf Community. This is essential reading for all policy-makers who wish to end the exclusion of Deaf BSL users from full citizenship. Extracts from Steve Emery’s book – in both English and BSL – can be seen in the BSL:UPTAKE online library, along with other works by Deaf researchers and their colleagues. The message of many of them is twofold:
1. We need to respect and as far as possible understand each other’s languages and our right to information in our own languages.
2. When it comes to human rights and citizenship, we all need to ‘talk the same language’.
Related Posts:
Related posts:
- British Sign Language and Linguistic Access Working Group Scoping Study: Linguistic Access to Education for Deaf Pupils and Students in Scotland
- The Long and Winding Road – Part 1: Introduction to the BSL Translation of Extracts from the Roadmap
- BSL Blog 1 – Deaf Education
- Scottish Council on Deafness: Report, 2008 (Part 1)
- Scottish Council on Deafness: Report, 2008 (Part 3)
2010 BSL UPTAKE
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May 20th, 2013 at 3:05 am
A very valuable resource bank – a significant step to the eventual recognition of BSL in Scotland, hopefully it will be a good example for the UK Parliament to start consultation for the legal rights of Deaf people and the BSL. We have been waiting so long for Westminster to legislate the national BSL Act.