British Deaf Association to launch ‘BSL Alliance’ to monitor BSL Advisory Board’s progress (BSL)

The British Deaf Association (BDA) is to launch a new BSL Alliance to monitor “the progress of the BSL Advisory Board” set up by the UK Government, following the passing of the British Sign Language Act in April last year.

The announcement, which comes ahead of the BDA’s first BSL Conference in March, will see the alliance “expand” upon the existing BSL Act Now! campaign group of nine Deaf organisations – the BDA, the Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD), Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID), Signature, SignHealth, the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), iBSL, Black Deaf UK and the NRCPD.

The charity said the new alliance would include “regional and local” Deaf groups and have a “broader geographical reach” than those of the nine national organisations.

Rebecca Mansell, the BDA’s chief executive, said: “The BSL Conference will bring Deaf and hearing community representatives together for the first time to understand the implications of the [BSL] Act, to explore the role of the Government-led BSL Advisory Board and the independent BSL Alliance, and to build long-lasting relationships that we hope will make our ambitious vision possible over the next decade.

“We dream of a Britain where every Deaf child and their parents receive free support to learn BSL from birth so they can communicate as a family. We dream of a country where all public services are automatically accessible to Deaf people so they can live life as independent adults.

We dream of a nation with an inclusive, enlightened attitude that recognises the unique linguistic and cultural status of the BSL signing community and consigns audism (discrimination) against Deaf people to history.”

As well as launching the BSL Alliance, the conference will also see the charity set out its 10-year vision for the Deaf community, which it says “sets out a world in which the thousands of British Deaf and Deafblind people whose first or preferred language is BSL are empowered to live their lives as full and equal citizens”.

Minister for Disabled People Tom Pursglove MP, ex-Labour politican and BSL Bill sponsor Rosie Cooper and BSL Advisory Board chair Craig Crowley are all due to speak at the event, which will be hosted at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City, near Tower Hill station.

Tickets to the conference are priced from £50 for BDA members, to £160 for representatives from the private sector.

More information about the BSL Conference can be found on the BDA’s website.

A BSL version of the BDA’s announcement is also available to watch on Vimeo.

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.