Liam O’Dell: This International Week of the Deaf, we must call for legal status for BSL

Over the past couple of weeks we have seen the Government’s attention being drawn to a whole range of deaf issues, but as communities around the world celebrate the International Week of the Deaf (including International Day of Sign Languages), there’s one campaign which must not be forgotten.

In 2003, British Sign Language (BSL) was officially recognised as a language. Just over 15 years later and we have seen little progress towards BSL achieving legal status, something which would grant deaf people the right to access information, support and services in sign language format.

Of course, the most recent occasion that this issue gained prominence was Brent MP Dawn Butler signing a question in Parliament to David Lidlington MP about it. The Aylesbury MP responded by mentioning a review of signing provision and that BSL is now an alternative to a Functional Skills qualification in English in an apprenticeship. Yet there has been little progress since.

It’s time to bring this back into the forefront – not only during this important week of awareness. Already, several events, announcements and consultations from Government and Parliament have discussed different issues affecting deaf and disabled people.

The Global Disability Summit saw the Department for International Development talk about disability on a worldwide scale, a £30 million fund was launched for inclusive transport, and a consultation on the Equality Act 2010 has allowed deaf people a chance to voice their concerns on the flawed legislation.

Most recently, 12-year-old Daniel Jillings’ campaigning has led to the Government saying they are open to making an “exception” when it comes to introducing a GCSE in British Sign Language, and a debate put forward by Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick highlighted the important issue of local authority cuts to deaf children’s services. The Government’s attention is being drawn to a whole range of deaf issues, but we must continue to raise awareness.

What’s worth noting is the strong correlation between a lack of a legal status for BSL and the poor enforcement of the Equality Act 2010. If deaf people are unable to receive the information they need in the format they need, then this piece of legislation doesn’t function well enough to prompt any sort of action against this – a point I made recently in another piece for The Limping Chicken.

This week being the International Week of the Deaf provides us with the perfect platform in which to call for this long overdue change, and with the Equality Act consultation ending next week, we must argue our case while the conversation is still very much alive.

Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and blogger from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and makes the occasional video about deaf awareness on his YouTube channel. He can also be found talking about disability, politics, theatre, books and music on his Twitter, or on his blog, The Life of a Thinker.