British Deaf Association issues follow-up statement after Makaton Charity claims BSL is ‘communication tool’

The British Deaf Association (BDA) has issued an additional statement following concerns the Makaton Charity had referred to British Sign Language (BSL) as a “communication tool” and not a language.

Both organisations issued comments last night in response to controversy over a video shared by musician Olly Murs, in which he signed lyrics from his new single in Makaton for his “fans in the deaf community”.

While Makaton is a language programme used to support those with learning and communication difficulties, BSL is a legally recognised language used by the majority of Deaf people in the UK.

In a statement addressing the video by Murs, chief executive Stephen Hall 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.”

However, after comments from both charities were shared by the BDA on their social media accounts, users had called on the Deaf charity to address the remarks made by Mr Hall around BSL being a “communication tool”.

On Wednesday, a second statement was issued by the BDA who conceded that while the organisation “does not fully agree with every point they made” they felt it was “important to include their response”.

They said: “We have been working with The Makaton Charity ever since our joint See Hear interview last summer. We wanted to include their response to show the differences in our current positions.

“There is still work to be done to improve and clarify the messaging of both organisations, to ensure the public clearly understands the differences between Makaton as a communication system for people with learning disabilities and British Sign Language, – our language – that has been recognised by Government and Parliament in law and is used by 90,000 people across the UK.

“It’s crucial that we carry on working with The Makaton Charity to help them to improve and clarify their messaging. That work is still in progress.”

The charity added it would “continue to engage” with The Makaton Charity and hopes they can “count on support from the Deaf community and hearing allies” in order for them to “continue to protect, promote and preserve British Sign Language for future generations”.

They also stated they would not tolerate any abuse towards the BDA, The Makaton Charity, Murs or Isabella Signs, the teenager who the musician cited as having taught him how to sign.

“Any comments of an abusive nature will be removed from our social media channels,” they said.

Photo: British Deaf Association.

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.