Deaf News: Doncaster Deaf Trust launches investigation after racist term appears in online BSL dictionary

Doncaster Deaf Trust have confirmed that they will be conducting an investigation after it was revealed that a video labelled with the n-word, apparently showing how to sign the racist term in British Sign Language (BSL), appeared on an online BSL dictionary.

It comes after Deaf researcher Kevin Buckle drew attention to the entry – available on the Spread the Sign website, which gathers signs from different sign languages around the world – on Saturday.

“Not happy. It is from Deaf Trust in Doncaster! See how racism still lurks around in our Deaf world as well as international Deaf world.

“I realise that the Deaf world in UK is so backward and behind,” Buckle’s tweet read.

While the video was titled with the racist term in English, other Twitter users pointed out that the sign in the video itself appeared to show a different phrase, which in itself is seen as being offensive.

Marc Schulder, a German linguist, tweeted: “I don’t know BSL, but from the mouthing and iconicity it seemed like they were signing BLACK PERSON, rather than a designated n-word sign. If so, the main issue would lie with the spoken language component of the entry, no?”

“Yes, but the sign used for ‘black’ in the entry itself is also considered offensive by many British black deaf people,” researcher Adam Schembri replied.

Doncaster Deaf Trust have been involved in the international dictionary project since 2006, with the website reportedly attracting more than 300,000 visitors every month.

The webpage flagged by Buckle was later removed from the site.

In a statement to The Limping Chicken, a spokesperson for the Trust said: “We apologise unreservedly for the totally inappropriate and offensive sign that appeared under the Trust’s name on the Erasmus Spread the Sign website. As soon as we were made aware of this, we acted swiftly to get it removed.

“We will now be conducting a full investigation into how this has happened. We are truly sorry for any offence caused.”

The Limping Chicken also reached out to Spread the Sign for a comment, but did not receive a response.

Photo: Spread the Sign.

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.

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Update – 20.04.21: In a statement to The Limping Chicken, a spokesperson for Spread the Sign said: “We are just a dictionary as Cambridge dictionary or the sign language dictionary of Stockholm university. They all have the n-word too. We are not a political organization.