Deaf News: British Deaf Association apologises following International Women’s Day controversy

The British Deaf Association (BDA) has apologised after controversy surrounding a panel event the charity staged for International Women’s Day.

The charity’s Chair Linda Richards has also said that she will step down from her position.

The panel event for International Women’s Day, which was held in March, featured no Black or Asian women, leading to concerns about lack of representation.

This was followed by an email written by a BDA trustee which referred to people who had raised concerns as ‘troublemakers.’

This was revealed by Deaf artist Vilma Jackson, who released an Instagram post on 25th March revealing what the email written by the BDA trustee had said:

“There’s some troublemakers around. We did invite ethnic women and one of them couldn’t make it. And another cancelled at last minute due [to] family. We, BDA, were disappointed but we can’t do anything at last minute.”

Jackson wrote in the caption: “One of your BDA trustees responded to this person in a very rude way! Did that person call us ethnic women troublemakers?”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vilma Jackson (@vcrj90_productions)

A follow-up post from Jackson contrasted this with an email sent to a white Deaf person, which Jackson described as “friendly and polite” in comparison to the previous message.

Responding to the comments on 30 March, Richards said in a Facebook video that it was “absolutely not the case” that the BDA had written emails containing language which “treated people of colour differently” – stating that the emails in question had been “misunderstood and misconstrued”.

“These are extremely serious statements to make. They are not acceptable. I will go through this but it is important for you to know that neither email was sent from the BDA Board of Trustees nor written from a BDA Trustee email address.

“When I was made aware of the existence of the first post and the email featured in this, I knew this was not from the BDA in any capacity whatsoever. I know the Board.

“However, I asked that the screenshot was shared to all the Trustees so that we all knew what was going on – as we have always done with each other on the Board – and one Trustee immediately contacted me,” she said.

 

Richards continued: “[the trustee] explained that this was a personal email she had sent to a group of Trustees of another – and different – Deaf organisation […] She was, and is, very upset at how her email has been shared outside of that group, presented as being from the BDA, and, of any suggestion that she said people from ethnic minorities were “trouble makers” – which she categorically states is not what she wrote or said.”

The Chair went on to state that the second email shared by Jackson was from a BDA staff member, and said that “two separate incidents have been put together” as coming from the charity, which is “not what happened”.

Richards concluded by listing several steps the charity would take next, including a review of the BDA’s social media accounts and being “more active” in terms of diversity and inclusion.

In response to this, on 8th April, Jackson shared a letter of complaint to the BDA criticising its “poor diversity and representation” on the IWD panel and again contrasting the two emails sent about the issue.

The letter highlighted the BDA’s own communications about equality and stated that it was “deeply worrying that the BDA has dismissed our complaint.”

The letter of complaint was supported and signed by hundreds of Deaf individuals.

In the meantime, pressure mounted on the BDA, with one regional Deaf organisation in Scotland reportedly deciding to no longer work with the charity.

An apology from the charity arrived last night (Tuesday), in a video posted by Richards in which the Chair said she is “honestly, truly, very sorry” for her previous response.

“I made some enquiries then posted a vlog to explain that the absence of Black women or Asian women was not intentional, that they had been included but couldn’t attend.

“But what was I making excuses for? It was clear that there were no Black women nor were there Asian women present. There was no excuse for this. That’s why I’m sorry – for this lack of representation.

“Then there was the matter of the emails [from the trustee and staff member] and the language within those. I tried also to explain about those but I shouldn’t have. The language in the emails was not acceptable,” she said.

Richards went on to add that she now wants to “reach out and to repair the broken bridges”, saying that she has made contact with Jackson, Black Deaf UK and the Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association (DEWA) and sought advice about Black Deaf trainers.

The chair revealed that she will meet with Jackson later this week, and that she has contacted the charity’s HR department to confirm that its Equality and Diversity policy is up to date.

All BDA staff and Board members will be required to take compulsory equality and diversity training, with the rollout due to take place later this month.

She also revealed that two members had stepped down from the BDA’s Board of Trustees.

“I’m gutted because I value both for the way they stepped up to help the BDA some 17/18 months ago after a turbulent period for the BDA […] I understand why they’ve stepped down and can’t stay on the Board. I do understand. I want to extend my thanks to both of them,” she continued.

Richards concluded by saying that she would stay on until the next Annual General Meeting (AGM) before stepping down, and that papers were already being prepared for the election of new trustees to the charity.

Photo: British Deaf Association (BDA)/Facebook.

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.