Why doesn't boris and co have some one signing?

[Samcro]

Watching the news and welsh and Scottish have some one signing. But boris and othe English politicians don't.

we were on the normal BBC channel.

You do realise those are essential language features of BSL?
If you are saying the exaggerated facial expressions are a feature of British sign language, no, I did not know that.

I was just being honest though. I do find the contortions very off-putting. I'm not saying they shouldn't be there. If the BBC use them for the deaf or hard of hearing that is fine, I will just have to watch on a channel without them.

I am grateful not to need the service.

They have never used an interpreter on bbc1. You’ve always got to go to the news channel. It’s really poor.

If there was someone in the room like Scotland and Wales, that wouldn’t be a problem.

I too think all news programs and official announcements should be signed.

This Makes me so mad, the lack of signing and availability of subtitles on lots of channels.
I can lip read but let's face it Boris isn't the easiest to follow with his rambling.
I miss out on so much that we can't watch together as a couple or family due to the Iack of subtitles or signing.

@PickAChew

It's not like they'd even need someone particularly fluent in bsl for Boris. "bumble bumble, erm..." pretty much covers it.

This. Just work out a few hand signals for "errrrr", "ummmmm", "but of course", "that is to say", "what I mean by that is"

This. Just work out a few hand signals for "errrrr", "ummmmm", "but of course", "that is to say", "what I mean by that is"

BSL isn’t hand signals.

Honestly, people think this is funny but it really isn’t when you’re being denied access to information.

Just work out a few hand signals for "errrrr", "ummmmm", "but of course", "that is to say", "what I mean by that is"

Absolutely. The most bumbling incoherent public speaker there is full of the mock stutter approach to cover his inadequacies.

I will volunteer to come on and do the universal sign for F-off behind him!

Honestly, people think this is funny but it really isn’t when you’re being denied access to information

No, they don't, they are poking fun at him!
There should definitely be a BSL person behind him on every announcement on the main channels, not just additional channels.

The BBC should provide signers for their broadcasts - but the government should provide a signer, regardless of who is filming it and whether or not the broadcaster has signers.

Not that you're missing anything with a Boris speech, but it's nice to have the option of knowing it's a waste of time rather than just being told so, and Boris being crap at public speaking doesn't change that they should have a signer there by default.

@unchienandalusia

I watched it on bbc news and it had someone signing?

But people want to blame 'the tories' for everything of course

@PurpleDaisies

What's wrong with the BBC news channel where it is available?

Because when the stream is repeated, there is no interpreter there. I missed the live broadcast and found the version on iplayer was missing the interpreter, as was the version on YouTube and everywhere else.

Most countries across the world have interpreters. I can’t understand why the English prime minister is so against it.

@purpleDaisies you can watch it on iPlayer with signing here: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/signed/a-z?sort=atoz

On the catchup versions you can choose to watch with or without signing.

But it being on the bbc isn't good enough is it? People without tv licences can watch the briefings via the government's social media, but there's no interpreter on that stream.

There was a bloke signing when the feed changed to BBC 2 for further coverage because me and DH both commented on it.

Thanks @blage, it wasn’t on when I looked. It must have been updated.

I don’t understand why some people can see someone signing but others can’t. Is this some weird 6th sense thing?

@PurpleDaisies

Thanks *@blage*, it wasn’t on when I looked. It must have been updated.

It usually takes at least an hour gor them to archive the footage on iplayer. I think their help page says the wait usually approximates to the length of the programme.

@SpamIAm

But it being on the bbc isn't good enough is it? People without tv licences can watch the briefings via the government's social media, but there's no interpreter on that stream.

@SpamIAm they do provide transcripts of the speeches here ... www.gov.uk/government/collections/slides-and-datasets-to-accompany-coronavirus-press-conferences

The BBC is a public service and a national institution. If people don't have a license to use it they'll be missing out on a lot more than a signed version of Boris's speech.

The BBC is a public service and a national institution. If people don't have a license to use it they'll be missing out on a lot more than a signed version of Boris's speech.

That’s not what the issue at hand is. Deaf people want national press conferences to be accessible to them. There are other sources of news beyond the BBC. If the interpreter was standing next to the PM (as in many, many other countries), that would improve the situation. This isn’t about paying the licence fee or not. With so much of the content inaccessible to BSL users, I can understand why they wouldn’t want to pay. They don’t get a fee reduction.

And since when was providing a bsl interpreter the responsibility of the bbc rather than the government?

Accessible information is a huge issue - and has been a huge issue particularly during Covid. It's been highlighted so many times to the Gov't and each time information is eventually presented in accessible formats hours, days and sometimes even weeks later.

YANBU at all to think they should - and could - do better.

I have two deaf friends - one born deaf, the other with (total) deafness acquired through illness. Both sign. If Scotland, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries can manage it, why not England?

A question showing my ignorance, rather than trying to be goady: what is the benefit of signing over subtitles?

We use subtitles a lot due to age related hearing loss in my family, but cannot understand BSL. Is it worth learning?

The announcements are subtitled live on the BBC coverage so used them.

YANBU. They should have an interpreter in the room with them so that it's accessible whenever it's watched.

Deaf people want national press conferences to be accessible to them.

But @PurpleDaisies it is accessible. I can watch the subtitled version on the BBC News Channel, the catch-up version on iPlayer and, if I didn't have a tv license, I could read the transcript or watch it with signing on youtube here:

I don’t sign proficiently but would benefit significantly when Boris is on just to get the gist of things. He has a really odd pattern of speech - anything party line, policy, buzzword, catchphrase is boomed out like some modern day Churchill - anything else is buffered with mumbling and I find it really difficult to follow. Of course, in an ideal world live subtitling would be much more advanced than it is now but then again my local Tory MP consistently voted against measures to improve this and when I wrote to him he ‘didn’t see what the problem was’.

It really does depend on what channel you watch as to whether they have a live signer. I do seem to remember Downing Street having one towards the end of the daily briefings but I may have imagined that