Crowdfunding campaign launched to support legal case over BSL interpreted access to concerts

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Three Deaf women have launched a CrowdJustice page to raise funds to create a Legal Defence Fund to support a legal case they have launched against a music promoter who did not provide a BSL interpreter for the entirety of a Little Mix concert (read a BBC News report about the case here).

The page launched this morning, and they have already raised nearly £1000, including a £500 donation from the Association of Sign Language Interpreters who sent out a tweet in support:

The funds are required to show that they can cover legal costs should they lose the case. If they win, they say funds would be used to support other disability cases.

The CrowdJustice page says:

We are a group of three deaf mothers who wanted to enjoy a music concert with our children as a birthday celebration. However, we struggled to get the most basic access from the event promoter to allow us to enjoy the entertainment in full and to discuss the show with our children after the event.

The three of us are now involved in an on-going legal case with LHG Live Limited.

This is because we were not provided with a British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreter for the whole concert.  

We were unable to enjoy all of the concert, we could not access the first section of the performance which left us feeling disengaged.

If we hadn’t had the support of Fry Law before the event, we don’t think we could have secured the BSL Interpreter at all. This legal challenge is essential to create a level playing field for deaf audiences who have every right to attend and to be engaged in musical performances.

We want all deaf people to be able to have full access to events when they buy a ticket for live music and entertainment.

90% of deaf parents have hearing children (Connor, 2014). We want to ensure that all deaf people, including deaf parents are able to enjoy events with their children, enabling them to have access to the lyrics and chat about the concert afterwards.

There is also a BSL translation: