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Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Deafness: British Sign Language (BSL) (Scotland) Bill: Public Consultation

Member’s Foreword from Cathie Craigie MSP

As Convenor of the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Deafness, I am pleased to introduce this consultation on a British Sign Language (BSL) Bill.

This Bill aims to secure BSL as one of Scotland’s official languages, commanding equal respect with English and Gaelic; to have better awareness of information needs and services for BSL users; to protect the linguistic integrity of the language; and to promote the cultural aspects of BSL and the Deaf community as part of Scottish heritage.

(When we talk of the Deaf community with a capital ‘D’, we mean either those born deaf or who become deaf early in their childhood before their linguistic ability has developed.)

The Scotland Act (1998) gave the Scottish Parliament power to encourage equal opportunities, particularly the observing of the equal opportunities requirements. It also has power to impose duties on Scottish public authorities and cross border public bodies operating in Scotland.

The Scotland Act defines equal opportunities as:

“the prevention, elimination or regulation of discrimination between persons on grounds of sex or marital status, on racial grounds, or on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation, language or social origin, or of other personal attributes, including beliefs or opinions, such as religious beliefs or political opinions.”

The Scottish Parliament and the then Scottish Executive took up their full powers on 1^st July 1999. Since then, there have been many discussions and consultations with the people of Scotland on how the equalities agenda is moved forward, and Scotland leads the way on many equality issues, but it still remains a fact that in Scotland in 2009 – 10 years on from Devolution, Deaf people who use BSL, which is a language in its own right, must rely on disability discrimination legislation to secure access to information and services in their own language. This is the reason that I am prepared to put forward a BSL Bill to the Scottish Parliament.