British Sign Language Bill passes second reading...

[Elderflower14]

HERE
Can't begin to tell you how happy this makes me...
Ds2 is one of 250,000 BSL users. He uses Total Communication, he uses BSL and speech. He is a passionate advocate for sign language and he is as happy as I am.
I saw Rose Ayling Ellis on the news talking about having no interpreter provided for the doctors and having to take a family member.. This shouldn't happen.
I registered ds2 with a new dentist after he moved to independent living and as an aside said I assumed they would book an interpreter for ds2.. They said they wouldn't and I said they were supposed to. They told me to prove it.
I wrote to and rang the local health authority who confirmed they had to and they then reluctantly did.
This bill will hopefully make situations like this a thing of the past..
Hopefully the government will now provide an interpreter in the briefing rooms now..
I'm housebound with Covid at the moment and this has made the end of a horrible week a lot better! ☺

It's brilliant news! I'm so pleased this is a step in the right direction towards better equity for your son Elderflower. Long overdue, much needed.

Thank you for posting.

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This has made my day. I have relatives who were born deaf and you can see people don't know how to communicate with them. They can talk, they just can't hear when you reply and rely on lipreading. The son of my relatives has told me some horrendous stories about the lack of BSL interpreters for things like hospital apts etc... deaf people have been marginalised for so long. I don't think people even think about deaf people until they have to deal with them in a capacity and they get scared because they can't communicate. This will make a massive difference to thousands of people well done to all who campaigned for this.

I'm over the bloody moon xxxx Way overdue x

Rose has done so so much to bring BSL more into the public eye... I can sign but am not brilliant... Ds2 is very good at making sure I don't do what I did when he was first learning. I signed to him that our friend was going home to eat her rabbit instead of feed her rabbit... His little face dropped... I had to frantically sign the correct word!!

It’s amazing news, we shouldn’t have people having to take family members to appointments just so they can communicate.

I would love to see BSL taught more widely in schools to help aid communication.

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This is good news, I haven’t read the detail are they proposing it’s taught in schools at least an a language option? I’m a BSL user even knowing tiny amount can make
Huge difference

Not sure about schools... Needs to happen though... So many people say that they are more likely to use BSL than French or German...

@Elderflower14 agree about having teaching in schools. Probably children would be more engaged than many are for modern foreign languages.

Should definitely be taught in schools

This is excellent news.

Teaching it in schools is a fantastic idea but there just aren’t the staff at the moment. Hopefully as they’re developing the gcse they’ll also be thinking about recruiting deaf teachers but I doubt anyone has actually considered how it might work in practice yet.

A good start would be Boris (and other key ministers/announcements etc) having a bsl/English interpreter present.

@PurpleDaisies

This is excellent news.

Teaching it in schools is a fantastic idea but there just aren’t the staff at the moment. Hopefully as they’re developing the gcse they’ll also be thinking about recruiting deaf teachers but I doubt anyone has actually considered how it might work in practice yet.

A good start would be Boris (and other key ministers/announcements etc) having a bsl/English interpreter present.

Exactly.... It makes my blood boil that there is no interpreter in the briefing rooms.... If the other governments can WHY CAN'T WE??? The man who m taught ds2 his Stage 2 for his exam is one of the interpreters who signs on the News 24 channel.

I’ve met a couple of the bbc news interpreters at various things and was quite starstruck!

Ten years ago the issue wasnt that the organisation I work for wouldn't supply a qualified signer, it was that they couldnt. Qualified sign language interpreters were like gold dust. I don't know if their availability has improved.
I hope so.

Im really pleased the Bill has passed its second reading,but if the availability of sign language interpreters hasn't improved,neither will the lot of profoundly deaf people.

I'm losing my hearing, currently I get by with hearing aids and lip reading, so I have deep sympathy with the deaf community.

Grand news. This is as it should be. 🌻

Great news, OP.

I'm so, so pleased about this.

Waiting to see what change it will bring in practice, mind you.

My son is Deaf , I used to take him to Deaf clubs when he was young and was shocked the amount of children with Deaf parents that used to interpret for them, inc...gp , and hospital appts. It's so wrong.

Need more interpreters though.

@PurpleDaisies I must say I always find it moronic when the Speaker of the House announces at PMQs that this is available in sign language. Surely you need to actually sign that.

Encouraging. But without serious investment in interpreters, is it just window dressing?

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Great news!!

Im in Scotland where a version of this bill was passed in 2015. I still have to advocate for my sister. Even the nhs don’t always know that it is their responsibility to arrange an interpreter and the must do it.