Deaf News: Campaigners reveal legal challenges as #WhereIsTheInterpreter campaign continues

The Government has been given a deadline of a week to respond to 280 letters from Deaf people over #WhereIsTheInterpreter, as campaigners launch a judicial review over a lack of coronavirus information in British Sign Language (BSL).

The news confirms The Limping Chicken’s report on Friday, which revealed that the Cabinet Office’s lawyers have acknowledged claims sent to them in May.

Speaking to members of the Deaf community on a livestream on Monday evening, lawyer Chris Fry said: “As I understand it, the Government’s legal team thought there were only eight cases, so there are 272 letters still floating around somewhere, which the Government’s legal team are now chaotically trying to get their hands on.

“In addition to those letters of claim relating to the private actions, today’s big news is that the beginning of a judicial review has been launched in the name of Lynn Stewart-Taylor.

“This means that we’re looking at a pincer movement and engaging both individual, private rights and public law remedies,” he said.

#WhereIsTheInterpreter campaign
🔸Do you want to know what access is provided in Wales/England for deaf people on television addresses during the COVID-19 crisis?
🔸Do you want to know what happening with the legal team, Fry Law who are supporting us. Come and join us! 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/oqorgTKj8G

— Lynn Stewart-Taylor (@jerseysnail) June 17, 2020

Mr Fry went on to add that the 280 letters say that the Prime Minister “is executing a public function” and that he should be “making a reasonable adjustment by providing an interpreter on the platform”.

He continued and said that by failing to do so, the Prime Minister is “breaching the Equality Act”, with remedies for going against the legislation being both financial and non-financial.

“If we establish with the court that there was a clear breach of the Equality Act, firstly the court will order the government pay compensation to every one of the 280 People who sent a letter of claim.

“The reason that that’s significant, is that it will be a very expensive mistake for the Government to have made. It could have been spending money that they would be ordered to pay in compensation on protecting public health and providing its information in an accessible format,” Mr Fry said.

The potential sums have been described as “very significant amounts of money” by the disability rights lawyer, who said that the compensation “might well be £5,000 upwards” for every single person affected.

Alongside the financial compensation, the action would also see a potential remedy in the form of a court order, one which compels the Government to provide an interpreter on a platform for the coronavirus briefings.

Mr Fry said: “I think the challenge we have is explaining why on-platform is a better solution than in-vision. To me, the in-vision support comes only because the Prime Minister has asked the BBC to make the reasonable adjustment.

“Even that wasn’t good enough because essentially, to start with, the in-vision support was only for the main briefing and not for the Q&A sections which are probably the most interesting.”

Both the potential financial compensation and court order are private law actions considered by Fry Law, and follow an open letter signed by Deaf people and organisations in March.

The Cabinet Office has until Monday to respond to the 280 claim letters, before an application will be made to the court for specific documentation, including the Equality Impact Assessment.

The assessment requires a public body to look at a policy and its impact on disabilities before going ahead with the decision.

The Government is being asked to reply with “how they considered providing information to BSL English users” during the daily statements on coronavirus, with Mr Fry saying he thinks “we will find out that there was no consideration at all”.

“I’d be delighted to be proved wrong by the Government and we’ll soon find out.

“By any stretch of the imagination, any decision [they] chose not to provide a BSL English interpreter would be irrational and probably unlawful,” he said.

#WhereIsTheInterpreter “I believe we can change this”. #StrongerTogether Let’s get Equal Rights for deaf people! pic.twitter.com/26QlAOOAxR

— Lynn Stewart-Taylor (@jerseysnail) June 13, 2020

Alongside the private law challenges, there is also one involving public law, in the name of Lynn, the campaign’s founder.

“A public law challenge is one which asks the court to look at the way in which the Government, in this case, came up with the decision to proceed without an interpreter and to tell the Government to go back and look at that process again.

“So, it could, again through a court order, compel the government to go back and look at whether it was ever legal to fail to provide an interpreter,” he explained.

He concluded his update by saying that the aim is to “both require an immediate reaction to providing an interpreter on-platform throughout the whole session” and to ensure that the Government, wherever possible, includes an interpreter on a platform for future national briefings.

In response to a question from a member of the audience, Mr Fry added that he is hoping for mediation, involving a “sit around the ‘Zoom table’ and have a discussion about how to resolve this” without pursuing legal action.

Responding to a later question about funding for the legal challenges, the lawyer said: “In Lynn’s judicial review, for example, if we lose that judicial review, the Government might ask them to pay their legal costs, which might run into £20-30,000.

“That’s the reason why it’s very difficult to enforce rights, and why we’ve gone to CrowdJustice, as a website to raise funding to provide that protection.”

At the time of writing, the fundraiser stands at £8,615, with over 370 pledges made by members of the public.

“I think if we could get it a bit higher, I’d be more comfortable in persuading the Government to accept this level of fees.

“The Government’s legal team might be watching this evening, and I hope they are, because they will recognise that litigation’s the last thing that people want – equality is what people want,” Mr Fry added.

He also confirmed that if the case was won by Deaf campaigners, then the money raised could be donated to another charitable cause for the community.

Rounding up the livestream, Lynn said: “I believe that we are working as a collective, as one. Yes, everybody needs a leader but absolutely, when one person sticks their head above the parapet, it’s amazing how many other people will collectively join.

“I know that we’re sick and tired of fighting, but I mean, let’s just get it within us to have another go, because if we don’t, how will we ever know how much further we could have got?”

More information about #WhereIsTheInterpreter, including a video of Monday’s livestream, can be found on the campaign’s official Facebook page.

Meanwhile, donations to the crowdfunder can be made on the CrowdJustice website.

Photo: Lynn Stewart-Taylor.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and blogger from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.