British Deaf Association issues statement on ‘unacceptable’ Olly Murs Makaton video

The British Deaf Association (BDA) has issued a statement criticising a video in which musician Olly Murs performed a version of his new single in Makaton while incorrectly labelling it as “BSL SSE” and for “his fans in the deaf community”.

Murs, who released the track “Die of A Broken Heart” on Friday, revealed he had been taught by Isabella Signs – a hearing influencer who performs sign songs and teaches signs to celebrities.

Isabella Signs, real name Isabella Evans, uses the language programme to communicate with her brother Lucas, who has Down’s Syndrome.

While Makaton is used for those with learning and communication difficulties, British Sign Language (BSL) is a legally recognised language in its own right complete with its own word order which is predominantly used by members of the UK Deaf community.

SSE is short for Sign Supported English, which sees BSL signs used in English word order.

Murs has since received comments from Deaf individuals about the video, which is still visible on his Instagram profile at the time of writing. The Limping Chicken has also seen images of it appearing as a sponsored advert on the social media platform.

Responding to one Twitter user on Saturday, the singer said: “Well I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear I did try my best. I did actually seek advice from the lovely @IsabellaSigns so any questions please fire away.”

Isabella is yet to comment publicly on the reaction to Murs’ video.

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A post shared by Olly Murs (@ollymurs)

 

On Tuesday evening, the BDA released a video statement in which they said the former X Factor star “appears to have been misinformed” by Isabella Signs.

They said: “The BDA has reached out to Olly Murs to offer support in making his music accessible to Deaf fans in the future.

“We applaud Olly’s enthusiasm in wishing to reach out to his Deaf fans by performing a signed translation of his new song. Had he consulted a Deaf teacher or performer to teach him the song in BSL, the result would have been much more natural and authentic and the Deaf community would have been thrilled.

“Other celebrities such as John Bishop and Chelsea footballer Jorginho are great examples of how this can be done right when a native BSL signer is consulted.

“We will also be making contact with Isabella Signs to ask her to clarify in all future social media content and in interaction with celebrities that a) she does not represent the Deaf community, and b) the signs she uses are not British Sign Language.

“This is another example of the misrepresentation, cultural appropriation and commodification of sign language by hearing people for personal gain. This is unacceptable.

“No-one can speak for the Deaf community but the Deaf community themselves. Nothing about us, without us.”

The video also included a statement from The Makaton Charity, in which the organisation said it was “pleased” to be working with the BDA to “improve awareness of the differences between the Makaton Language Programme and BSL”.  

Stephen Hall, the charity’s chief executive, said: “As a communication charity, The Makaton Charity encourages all hearing people to have a greater awareness of the needs of others and would, where individuals wish to communicate with the Deaf community, encourage them to learn and use British Sign Language, which is the appropriate recognised communication tool for that community.”

The full video containing both statements (with the BDA’s comment in BSL) is available to watch on Vimeo and the BDA’s social media channels.

Photo: @ollymurs/Instagram.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.