We reported last week on how the Conservative Party had told a voter that it would not be creating a BSL manifesto due to “time constraints,” which led to uproar from deaf people on social media.
Now, following a campaign by Deaf activists over the weekend, many of whom sent the party their own BSL videos with the hashtag #MyBSLQuestion, the party has made a u-turn (which some would say is only the latest in a run of u-turns) and now says it WILL produce a BSL manifesto after all.
The party’s website says that a BSL version of the manifesto “will be available soon.” See a screengrab of the site below.
Although this is news to be welcomed, some deaf people on Facebook are asking just how long they will have to examine the BSL manifesto, considering that the manifesto is not available yet, and there are only a few days left until the election.
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Natalya
May 31, 2017
I worry this is a stonewalling delay oops tactic. I’ve seen this before where a promise is made to shut a campaign up, then quietly not fulfilled.
Also doing it this late is still discriminatory as we have less time to follow the BSL and some deaf people will need longer to take information all in.
Fingers crossed they do upload it though. I’ll be interested to see how they do it!
Dave
May 31, 2017
Is there a subtitled version? Doing it in BSL is fine but not if at the expense of a subtitled version which will benefit more people with hearing impairment 11million vs 250,000 BSL users.
Editor
June 1, 2017
I’d say two things.
First, it’s not about doing one thing over another. If both subtitles and BSL is needed, both should be provided.
But in this case, this is about giving access to what is at the moment written information.
If you can read subtitles, you can read the written manifesto or the easy read version.
Some deaf people who use BSL can’t fully understand written English and this is why they need a BSL version.
mjfahey
May 31, 2017
I’m sorry but if they don’t do it without question they won’t do it in normal life… they don’t care enough!