So, it’s that time of year again.
We’re ordering food weeks in advance, wondering whether greetings cards (yes, actual cards, on actual paper) are still the “in thing” or not, and trawling the internet for hard-to-find Lego.
Life suddenly seems more complicated, with more parts than usual. It must be Christmas!
This year has been particularly interesting because my wife and I were conned – in the nicest possible way – into teaching our son’s entire primary school how to sign Silent Night.
I’m usually up for a challenge, but I’m not a BSL teacher, so standing in front of assembly and teaching a load of kids how to sign “Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia…” is not something I’d ever planned to do.
Funny, that.
I’m so glad we did it, though, because the kids were enthusiastic and really good, and I know from some parents that it sparked up lots of Deaf/BSL related conversations at home.
This came just after a recent House of Commons “discussion” in which MPs refused to consider putting BSL on the national curriculum because it doesn’t have a written form. What a rubbish excuse! They could sort it out if they really wanted to. Nothing’s impossible.
It was obvious at my son’s school nativity play that their tiny amount of BSL tuition had made an impact; quite a few of the kids tried copying the interpreter throughout.
And, after they’d all signed Silent Night, one boy carried on signing bits of it at random intervals, with a big smile on his face.
I was struck by how natural he was, and my heart broke a bit when I realised it was all the BSL he knew. For now, anyway.
Nothing like a bit of seasonal politics to get me going!
And talking of silly governmental policies, it was nice to see Access to Work announce that they’ve set aside £2 million to help disabled people take up work placements.
Is that really silly? No, but I do wonder where the money came from.
In a giant sized coincidence, January is going to be a challenging month for lots of Deaf people who are advertising for in-house interpreters to start then, because Access to Work have told them to avoid booking freelancers… to save money.
As I understand it, there haven’t been many applications for these posts, probably because they’re underpaid, unsupported and just basically wrong.
Sickeningly, some Deaf workers are being asked to have “non communication days”, when, er, they don’t communicate with people. Er, hello. Isn’t this a breach of their human rights?!
Indeed, as the Stop Changes to Access to Work Campaign Group point out, deaf people often need more hours of AtW support than other AtW users do… yet, the government’s own definition of discrimination states that “You can discriminate indirectly with working conditions or rules that disadvantage one group of people more than another.”
Oops! The government might like to have a good think about that, then? Bit embarrassing.
I can think of many reasons why the “non communication days” are wrong, even if they save loads and loads of money.
Mostly, though, I’m having unpleasant Scrooge-style visions of Deaf people in workhouses, staring miserably at walls while everyone around them is jolly and full of Christmas spirit.
On a more serious note, a Deaf manager whose high level job is being affected by the decision said, “Sometimes urgent decisions need to be made; without support, these are often taken over by other members of staff. As a manager, this leaves you feeling powerless and that you have lost control.”
Gee thanks, Access to Work, and a merry Christmas to you too!
So if you haven’t already, sign the Stop Changes to Access to Work Campaign petition – click here to add your name.
And while you’re in the petition mood, let’s not forget that all Stephanie McDermid and nearly 12,000 other people want for Christmas is a few subtitles – click here to sign that one too!
But, all is not lost. I can guarantee that Claire, the most famous 5 year old with Deaf parents, is going to cheer you up after my Christmassy rant (sorry, folks, but I don’t make the news!)…
A merry Christmas and a happy and accessible 2014 to you all!
Jen Dodds is a Contributing Editor for The Limping Chicken. When she’s not looking after chickens or children, Jen can be found translating, proofreading and editing stuff over at Team HaDo Ltd (teamhado.com).
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Andy. Not him, me.
December 20, 2013
The problem I have with the current BSL Act campaign is that it is ineffective. In 2003 we got recognition of BSL as a language. This sparked a campaign to start a BSL Act. That was a decade ago and here we are not one inch nearer to an Act that will give BSL the same status as Welsh.
Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”.
Why hasn’t it succeeded? Well I think the main reason is that not enough people really need BSL in their daily life. If the alleged number of BSL users had really wanted to make it a law then it would have happened years ago but it hasn’t. This is not because of Hearing Oppression but because not enough people are asking for it. If there really were 150,000 BSL users out there all wanting support for their language it would have happened long ago.
So much about this campaign is not quite what it seems. There are not as many native Deaf signers as was claimed. The Census showed this to be a fact. It is no good saying the Census was wrong, it is the official count that the Government will rely on regardless of what anyone else thinks. What has been happening is a small number of people have been making noises simulating a large crowd. Even the Romans knew that one!
Looking again at numbers, the number of people in this country with some kind of impairment to their hearing is about 9 million. This number came from the Government Audit Bureau and is a ball park figure only. But it gives an idea of the sheer scale of hearing loss. The number of people who might support a Bill which helped ALL people with impaired hearing (that would be tinnitus, hyperacusis and all the rest as well as deafness) is very much higher.
That is why I feel that a BSL Act probably won’t succeed but a Communication Act covering all the needs of everyone with any kind of hearing impairment is casting the net much wider. It has something for a much larger number of people. And >of course< provision for BSL should be included within this Act. It is for everyone, repeat everyone. It has a much higher chance of success because of the much larger number of people whose lives would be improved.
Editor
December 20, 2013
Hi Andy, some fair comment here but I do disagree in parts –
The current campaign have shown a great deal of support through social media, and in a short period of time have linked with Deaf organisations and have had meetings with the Government. So the recent work that has been done, I would say has been very encouraging.
It’s not been one campaign, since 2003, even though the need for a BSL Act has been spoken about since then. The Spit the Dummy campaign is around a year old now.
There are some horrific incidents recently where people have not been able to access BSL in hospitals and it’s potentially threatened their lives. So what I’d argue strongly is that those who need it, really need it.
On the numbers –
There’s a contradiction here because you’re saying that it’s a “fact” but then you’re also saying it’s “the official count the Government will rely on” no matter what.
Well, they may rely on it, but I strongly suspect that a number of Deaf people either didn’t know there was the option of putting BSL as their first language on the form, or were not the ones in their household filling it in (if a hearing relative completed it) or may even have struggled to fill it in because the form was in their second language (English).
Obviously everyone has a different opinion on this, but I certainly don’t see the census as being accurate.
Andy. Not him, me.
December 20, 2013
But you can’t prove otherwise, that is my point. At the end of the day the Government will believe its own Census figures so they might as well be fact as far as they are concerned. There isn’t any evidence to the contrary.
To further break those figures down, Deaf people tend to marry other Deaf people so we can immediately halve that number and call it the number of Deaf couples. Add in the children, say 2 per family and we are down to about 2-3000 Deaf families. That is what I think has been holding back the campaign, there are just not enough people.
More counting… I believe the Spit the Dummy petition ended up with about 4,000 odd signatures? That’s not very many really, petitions need to go into at least 5 figures to be effective and to get a promise of a debate you need 100,000 signatures. To date I think only a few campaigns have come anywhere near.
Editor
December 20, 2013
Andy – sorry, but in each census, people mark of how many people in a household there are, so halving the number and then reducing it for children is ridiculous.
It’s much more likely that in some households a deaf member was not noted, certainly that their choice of language (BSL) wasn’t.
In how many households with one deaf member do you think a deaf person filled in the forms?
Plus, the 2000-300 stat. I mean, there were 800 Deaf people in a field for Sign Circle this summer, you’re saying that this represented a third of the UK’s signing Deaf population?!
Tim
December 20, 2013
I signed the AtW petition and I thought that was pretty big of me considering I never see working Deaf people stick up for unemployed Deaf people.
Lana
December 20, 2013
“a number of Deaf people either didn’t know there was the option of putting BSL as their first language on the form (Census) – there are many CODP who don’t realise that their 1st language is BSL and that they could “tick” on the form.
Lana
December 20, 2013
Editor… should it be CODA ? and put X on the form instead of tick.. please kindly amend my mistakes Thanks Lana
Andy. Not him, me.
December 20, 2013
You seem to be conflating two different things. The Census asked for the number of native sign users. Families who bring their children up in sign.This is not at all the same thing as the total number of people who support signing which is far greater.
At some point you are going to have to go to someone in power and say “Look all these people want you to give them your support”.
And the power person will ask, not unreasonably “What people?”. And if you can’t produce your people then what happens?
Editor
December 20, 2013
Andy, the census asked for people for whom BSL is their first language. Not ‘native.’
Are you saying the only true BSL users are people brought up using BSL by their families? Because 90% of Deaf people are born to hearing families and discover sign later in life. Those people count too, don’t they?
At no point did I suggest the census should record the number of people who support signing (or mistakenly think that was the case). Though I’d hope many people do, naturally.
Andy. Not him, me.
December 20, 2013
Well it’s the same thing. Native – 1st language. What other language could they learn?
It stands to reason, I hope that in order for someone to have signing as a first language at least one parent, most likely two will need to be a signer?
I am well aware that 90% of Deaf people have hearing parents but very few of those will be 1st language signers unless the parents sign.
Assuming you are correct and the Census figure is wrong. What figure would you propose as being credible as a number of signing Deaf people whose first language is sign?
Editor
December 20, 2013
That’s not for me to say, I think it’s far higher than the census figure though, not least because the Scottish census was proportionally a lot higher on its own.
And BSL can be very much a first language even if the parents are hearing – as I said earlier the definition of it being a first language is not dependent on the language at home.
Andy. Not him, me.
December 21, 2013
The trouble with the Scottish census is simply that Scotland’s demography doesn’t really transfer well into England. Many surveys based on Scottish figures don’t take into account that 95% of Scotland’s population lives in the urban south. But even so, let’s assume that the Scottish extrapolation is reasonably accurate, we can then assume 150,000 signing Deaf people in England.
Just one problem with that. Where are they all?
They don’t belong to RAD or BDA, they certainly don’t belong to AOHL. With this number of Deaf people in the country we should be seeing them on every street, on the buses, in the shops. This is a football stadium full of people. So no, I don’t believe it.
Now it is quite clear that we are talking about first language BSL users. People who learnt to sign from birth onwards. But unfortunately a quick look at the RAD information page brings forth this little gem :
How many Deaf people are there in the UK who use sign language? Previous estimates and surveys have said 50,000 or 70,000 or 122,000. But the 2011 Census says only 15,000 use BSL in England & Wales, with 7,000 using “another sign language”. – See more at: http://royaldeaf.org.uk/newsid_55/How_many_Deaf_BSL_users_in_UK#sthash.uR5wqr0q.dpuf
But we’ve already agreed have we not that it’s FIRST language sign users. Oh dear, even the Deaf people’s society can’t get it right. I’m really hesitant to lend my support to people who don’t know their stuff. Been caught out so many times in the past.
Editor
December 21, 2013
Andy, “First language” doesn’t mean the first language people ever used, it means their primary language they use to communicate in. That’s a fundamental error of how you’re looking at this.
Second, deaf people don’t have to ‘belong’ to any organisation.
Third, you asking where all these people are, well you don’t know they’re deaf unless you see them signing, do you?
As you’ve admitted, the Scottish figures show something went seriously wrong with the census recording such a low number of BSL users.
I agree with Deaf Power, I think that’s where this thread ends. Thanks Charlie
Jen Dodds (@deafpower)
December 21, 2013
I think this discussion is – sadly – way off subject. I’m tired of non-BSL using deaf people putting down BSL users. Putting down one group in order to try and further your own cause is short sighted and unneccessary.
I hope 2014 will be a healthier and more mutually suportive year for us all!
Matt Brown
December 21, 2013
This argument reminds me a bit of the bickering about how many gay people there really are – estimates range between 1% and 25% of the population depending on your definitions and your data. Both sides of the quantitative argument are quite dull and don’t really have much to say about the qualitative analysis. Discrimination would still be discrimination if I were the only woofter in the world.
I agree that the new requirements are short-sighted and badly planned and are probably going to be impossible to achieve, and that Deaf professionals’ productivity is going to suffer while this mess is sorted out. However I also have serious concerns about how ATW funding is actually being used by Deaf professionals and interpreters and how huge amounts of it is ending up in agencies’ bank accounts.
After a fairly depressing first year as a qualified interpreter, I have vowed never to do generic “office support interpreting” ever again. Only one out of the seven people who had a full time ATW budget that I’ve worked regularly for has come anywhere near using more than half of it – with the other six, I’ve sat around doing nothing for hours and hours and hours on end, at the taxpayer’s expense. One of those was a pooled ATW budget for several Deaf staff who *collectively* did not have anything for me to do for about 80-90% of the time. My skills have stagnated and my self-worth has completely crumpled. You might say “well, this is just an anecdote from one interpreter”, and you would be right – but anecdotes about personal experience are what regularly pass for “evidence” in access debates and journalism, unfortunately.
I fully understand and appreciate the access issues involved and agree with all the arguments about exclusion – but I do not think it is a “right” to have someone educated to post-graduate level sitting around doing nothing 90% of the time on central government funding while agencies pocket half of it, and sadly, I think that some interpreters, including myself, as well as a few Deaf professionals, have been complicit in this abuse of funding. ATW should really be doing a few more workplace visits.
I can’t take that guilt and lack of self-esteem any more and so I won’t be taking those “office support” assignments again. If you have a specific task to achieve, a meeting or a lot of of phone calls or a training session, no problem, get in touch. If you want an interpreter to sit around all day “in case” something happens, sorry, that’s just not justifiable.
The sad thing is that the people who genuinely do need and use their full time ATW funding are now going to suffer because of this short-sightedness and, dare I say it, greed. Perhaps we need to sort things out closer to home before we storm into town bristling with righteousness.
Also, can someone point me to one of these many adverts for interpreter posts? Because I’ve been scanning deaf-uk-jobs and have seen a grand total of one.
Reason to be Chippy
December 23, 2013
Hi Matt. I’d take issue with your comment – “If you want an interpreter to sit around all day “in case” something happens, sorry, that’s just not justifiable”.If that’s true then what support would you propose for a Deaf person in a job which involves attending ad hoc (ie unpredictable and unplanned) meetings like crisis-management meetings on a complex project? Or should a Deaf person applying for a job of this sort expect to be discriminated against because it’s not reasonable for him to be provided with the ad hoc support he needs?
Tim
December 21, 2013
How many profoundly, severely and even moderately Deaf people would be using BSL but for widespread oppressive practices like oralism? I don’t think it would be fair to use past oppression as justification for continued oppression.
The issue is not objective and does not have strict rules. I consider BSL to be my first language even though I can only ‘speak’ it badly. Why? because it’s the language I understand – lip-reading is only coping – coping badly in my case.