BSL:UPTAKE » Blog Archive » How can Deaf people have fair and equitable access to all aspects of life in Scotland?

How can Deaf people have fair and equitable access to all aspects of life in Scotland?

Deaf people do not have access to the things that hearing people take for granted:

- Television programmes – the majority of TV programmes that have BSL subtitles are broadcast after 11.00pm; there is only one programme on terrestrial TV that is broadcast in BSL for one hour per week;

- Films and theatre – a limited number are made accessible;

- Access to information in their own language; and

- Conversation with people outside the Deaf community and with others, including the people that provide services – in cafes, bars, restaurants, on buses, in shops, health professionals, social services staff – and the “person in the street”. Hearing people pick up a lot of information when listening to other people’s conversations – Deaf people do not have this chance.

As so many aspects of society revolve round the use of language – access to education, health, culture, information, work, services, and interaction with others – Deaf BSL users are excluded by the lack of awareness of and interest in their language from their hearing peers.

If BSL was a curriculum subject offered to all children from Pre School through Primary and Secondary education, more hearing people, children and adults, would have at least basic communication skills when meeting a Deaf person in a social or work setting; and would have a better understanding of what it means to be Deaf and may also want to learn more about the language and be prepared to take classes as adults.

Learning BSL at school could lead to a number of job opportunities working with or supporting other Deaf people:

- BSL / English interpreter

- Communication Support Worker

- Teacher of the Deaf

- Social Worker with Deaf people

- Work within Deaf organisations

- Support work with Deaf people

- Counsellor for Deaf people

- Work in the mental health field

- Equalities work in local or national government.

There is a widespread belief amongst Deaf people and the organisations that work with and support them that one of the most effective ways of enhancing the recognition and status of BSL and of Deaf people, as well as increasing the number of people who are fluent in the use of the language, would be for BSL to be included as a subject in the school curriculum.

If BSL were on offer to both hearing and deaf children, then families and children could decide for themselves if they wanted to learn the language. For some deaf children this could be part of a bilingual approach to education.

A community where several generations of people, both deaf and hearing, have had first hand experience of a range of deaf education systems and have had the opportunity to learn BSL from a young age, would be an inclusive community with access for all.