Deaf News: “Go find a bigger room!’ Women and Equalities chair slams Government’s failure to provide interpreter

The chair of the House of Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee, Caroline Nokes, has criticised the UK Government’s decision to not provide a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter for its coronavirus press conferences.

Speaking to Disability Rights Advice TV, the Conservative MP rejected the Prime Minister’s claim to the Liaison Committee last week that the issue was down to logistics or timing.

“I have seen BSL interpreters brought in literally at the drop of a hat, when it is considered important enough. I know that they’re available and I know that they want to do this job.

“If it’s about logistics, if it’s really about there not being enough space in the room, go find a bigger room. To me, that’s very straightforward.

“We have a government that has access to a wide range of buildings – the Foreign Office, for example, huge rooms. If it has to be a wood-panelled room, you would find one there.

“We have access to Parliament – massive rooms. So I reject the concept that it’s about logistics,” she said.

Nokes’ comments follow the Women and Equalities Committee’s report on the ‘unequal impact’ of coronavirus on disabled people, which said the UK Government acted “far too slow” to address concerns around the accessibility of information about the virus.

“Accessibility should have been baked in from the start. Much of what is being asked for could be simply achieved, often at low cost, and bring considerate benefit to disabled people.

“We recommend the Cabinet Office implement in full the list of accessible communications asks from RNID and other charities,” the report reads.

The UK Government has two months to respond to the publication, with a deadline of 22 February.

Nokes added: “My fear is that that deadline may slip because the Government will be able to say, ‘well, we are in the middle of a pandemic, we don’t have time to respond’, but this is so important, you can’t not respond.

“The minute that deadline starts slipping, I’ll be seeking to use Parliamentary opportunities that they haven’t yet responded.”

She continued by saying that the committee “will not hesitate” to bring ministers back in front of them if they are not satisfied with the Government’s response.

In a question submitted by The Limping Chicken, the select committee chair was asked if she accepted the Government’s view that Number 10’s provision of a sign language interpreter on social media is good enough.

Nokes began by thanking the Deaf community which has helped to educate her and said: “What I had not appreciated was that if you have somebody in the room, providing BSL interpretation, then when that gets clipped and put on other news channels, when it ends up on social media, the BSL interpreter will be there for all of those clips.

“If it’s only overlaid, then they won’t. So I think that is a crucial difference.

Then there was this question from @vickyfoxcroft
earlier this afternoon around #WhereIsTheInterpreter, and whether a BSL interpreter would be provided for his #CovidBriefing this evening (h/t @FryLegal)

BSL version included in the next tweet.pic.twitter.com/QnwXknqnDc

— Liam O'Dell (@LiamODellUK) October 12, 2020

She continued by commenting on a response from the Prime Minister during PMQs in October, in which Boris Johnson said he doubted that the Government “will get one in time” for the conference that evening.

“Well, we are now mid-January. We are three months on and we’ve still made no progress, so that makes me very angry,” she said.

The MP’s remarks are the latest criticism of the Government’s stance on equality, with the Prime Minister facing ridicule after telling Sky News there is “nothing wrong with being woke”.

This is despite the Women and Equalities Minister Liz Truss slamming what she called a “pernicious woke culture” in a speech in December.

The Limping Chicken approached the Government’s Equalities Office for a response from the Minister on Boris Johnson’s comments, but was told that they had nothing more to add to Truss’ statement.

When asked what she made of Truss’ comments that a focus on protected characteristics (including race, gender and disability) has led to “a narrowing of the equality debate”, Nokes said it made her “quite angry”.

“The committee’s just launched an inquiry into the work of the Government Equalities Office. I have absolutely no doubt that the Minister’s comments will feature large in that and that we’ll be inviting her back.

“We have not actually had Liz in front of us for very nearly a year now, so I think it’s time for her to come and have a chat,” she said.

The discussion, which was streamed live to Facebook, also saw contributions from #WhereIsTheInterpreter founder Lynn Stewart-Taylor, disabled peer Baroness Jane Campbell and Fazilet Hadi from Disability Rights UK.

Photo: UK Parliament.

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