The British Deaf Association (BDA) has thrown its weight behind reform of the Equality Act, following the House of Lords Select Committee’s decision to subject the act to a review.
In particular, the charity is calling for greater rights for sign language users, including a BSL Act.
The BDA said in a press release (which you can also see in BSL):
The BDA has delivered its formal submission to the Committee in which we ask for ratification and implementation of the Government’s obligations under the UNCRPD and a legal status for British Sign Language through a BSL Act. The BDA believes this would go a long way to increasing the effectiveness of the Equality Act 2010 for Deaf people.
The aim of BDA’s submission is to strengthen the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that BSL is protected, promoted and safeguarded.
A BSL Act would ensure that BSL, as one of the UK¹s indigenous minority languages, has a minimum legal status comparable to that of the other languages in the British Isles, such as Cornish, Welsh and Scots Gaelic.
The BDA’s submission also urges that BSL / English interpreters are included in the Equality Act with provision for formal statutory registration.
Dr Terry Riley OBE, Chair of the BDA, says: “Many other minority languages in the UK have had legal rights and protection for a number of years. Yet our own language, BSL, has been ignored. It has become increasingly clear from evidence heard in the Scottish Parliament recently that the Equality Act is not adequate in its current form to protect Deaf people. It is now time for our Government to recognise BSL and its part in the cultural heritage of the UK, and give it the status it deserves.”
The House of Lords has invited the BDA to give oral evidence to the Committee on 27 October 2015.
The Limping Chicken is the UK’s deaf blogs and news website, and is the world’s most popular deaf blog.
Make sure you never miss a post by finding out how to follow us, and don’t forget to check out what our supporters provide:
- Phonak: innovative technology and products in hearing acoustics
- Ai-Live: Live captions and transcripts
- Bellman: hearing loss solutions
- Deaf Umbrella: sign language interpreting and communications support
- Clarion: BSL/English interpreting and employment services
- Appa: Communication services for Deaf, Deafblind and hard of hearing people
- SignVideo: Instant BSL video interpreting online
- 121 Captions: captioning and speech-to-text services
- Doncaster School for the Deaf: education for Deaf children
- Signworld: online BSL learning and teaching materials
- deafPLUS: Money advice line in BSL
- Hamilton Lodge School in Brighton: education for Deaf children
- Lipspeaker UK: specialist lipspeaking support
- RAD: financial advice for Deaf people
- Krazy Kat: visual theatre with BSL
- Enable Support Services: Supporting Deaf children and adults in Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk
- Exeter Deaf Academy: education for Deaf children
- SignHealth: healthcare charity for Deaf people
- CJ Interpreting: communication support in BSL
- Sign Solutions:, language and learning
- Sign Lingual: BSL interpreting and communication services
- Action Deafness Communications: sign language and Red Dot online video interpreting
- SDHH: Project Development and Consultancy
- Mykasoft: Deaf-run Web Design Studio
Enjoying our eggs? Support The Limping Chicken:
The Limping Chicken is the world's most popular Deaf blog, and is edited by Deaf journalist, screenwriter and director Charlie Swinbourne.
Our posts represent the opinions of blog authors, they do not represent the site's views or those of the site's editor. Posting a blog does not imply agreement with a blog's content. Read our disclaimer here and read our privacy policy here.
Find out how to write for us by clicking here, and how to follow us by clicking here.
The site exists thanks to our supporters. Check them out below:
- BSL Zone: TV programmes in BSL for the Deaf community
- Deaf Umbrella: what support is available for deaf students?
- Bellman & Symfon: home alerting solutions, including the mobile phone transceiver!
- SignVideo: Instant BSL video interpreting online
- SignHealth: check out the BSL health library
- 999 BSL: call 999 in an emergency, in BSL
- Appa: Looking for RSLIs, TSLIs and CSWs, apply here!
- Signly: Adding BSL to websites
- Signworld: Learn BSL online!
- DCAL: world-class research into deafness, cognition and language
- Action Deafness: “A Deaf-Led Charity” – interpreting & community support services
- Sign Solutions: Instant access to Interpreters, training and BSL translation nationwide
- InterpretersLive: On demand BSL video interpretation
- Lipspeaker UK: specialist lipspeaking support
- BID: Deaf services, including advice and support, interpreting, employment and letters
- Performance Interpreting: BSL interpreting at concerts
- National Deaf Children's Society: The leading charity for deaf children
Tim
September 8, 2015
I would say that it could do with being repealed and replaced with something much better.
The fact that inequality has hit the alleged ‘protected groups’ so badly recently just proves that it does not work, has no teeth and is an out and out failure.
A new act would need to protect us from the government itself, they are the principal architects of inequality.
pennybsl
September 8, 2015
Tim is right – though both Labour and Conservative ministers since 2010 allowed strong principles to be diluted to such an extent that the Equality Act is now a toothless blob.
The attitude of the current Government leaves us gasping in astonishment at their blatant disregard for safe inclusive engagement with us (Equality Act-stranded) people as UK citizens.
The whitewashing and evasion of the public’s and crown courts’ piercing questions concerning AtW, benefits, sanctions, cuts to local authorities, cuts to adult education, messing with the DSA, contracting thickheads in assessing disabled people for PIP, etc., etc., is totally unacceptable and unethical.
What is the point of voting for MPs who, when they reached the upper levels of Governmental hierarchy, steer away from legally good practice / consultation / engaging with specific groups?
For the BDA’s wish to see a reformed and more relevant Equality Act, the process must be transparently independent from the Government as much as possible.
Hartmut
October 21, 2015
Any legislative act of recognizing the sign language of the country is only good on paper without concrete measures as part of the act and in the regulations formulated after its enactment. Specific formulations of what the recognition entails are the key to success.
U.S.A. does not have any formal recognition of what language(s) is official. English is only a de-facto official language of the country. Yet it has several laws that spell out the right for deaf persons to the services of sign language interpreters in almost every interaction between deaf and hearing persons, paid by public entities (government, hospitals, other public institutions, etc.) and private entities deemed capable to pay for such service, like employers and businesses as part of normal costs to run their operations. Now doctors in private practice are paying for such services for a deaf patient, even for two when a Deaf interpreter is needed. I believe that is an off-shoot of the US American with Disabilities Act that entails sections applicable to deaf people.
Once, the use of sign language interpreters becomes a common occurrence and considered normal to run business with the public, the costs for it can be institutionalized as part of necessary costs to run an affair involving the public The trick is to write the necessary language in the legislation that will lead to this phenomenon. A simple act to recognize the sign language of the country does not do it. Such an act is only a white-wash.
To sum up, BDA ought to push for laws that include specific language what should be included to provide deaf people communicative and informative access to deaf people and bilingual English-BSL education to deaf children and who should pay for it (at least implicitly). Ultimately, it is hoped that deaf people and sign language will be considered an integral and necessary part of the society, worthy of preservation.