National BSL Day confirmed for 28 April as British Deaf Association searches for first ‘Deaf Poet Laureate’

The UK’s first National British Sign Language (BSL) Day to “celebrate” the language will take place on 28 April – the same day the BSL Act received Royal Assent last year – the British Deaf Association (BDA) has confirmed.

The day was first announced last month, at the Deaf charity’s inaugural BSL Conference.

In a message to members on Wednesday, BDA CEO Rebecca Mansell said: “Our aim for the day is to celebrate our language – BSL, to encourage more people to learn to sign, and remind the Government that we have high expectations for the implementation of the BSL Act.”

Introduced to Parliament by former Labour MP Rosie Cooper, the Act gave legal recognition to BSL and requires the UK Government to publish regular reports on how it has ‘promoted and facilitated’ the use of sign language across its departments.

National BSL Day is different to Sign Language Week, which takes place every year in March and saw this year’s week have the theme of “protecting BSL”.

The Limping Chicken understands the annual Sign Language Week campaign commemorates the date in March 2003 when the UK Government first recognised BSL as a language in its own right.

Meanwhile, National BSL Day marks the anniversary of the passage of the BSL Act last year and is an opportunity for the British Deaf community to celebrate their own language.

Ahead of the celebrations, the BDA is encouraging all BSL signers – including hearing people and children of Deaf adults (CODAs) to create video clips of no longer than 10 seconds signing what they love about BSL and what makes it “special and unique” to them.

📢 Exciting announcement! 📢

Join the BDA in celebrating National BSL Day on April 28th! Share your love for BSL by sending a 10-second clip of what makes it special to you to bda@bda.org.uk.

Let's show the world why we love this language! #WhyILoveBSL #BSLAlly #NationalBSLDay pic.twitter.com/pZOxFuTdlA

— British Deaf Association (@BDA_Deaf) April 12, 2023

Individuals can send their videos to bda@bda.org.uk by Tuesday to be edited into a compilation which the BDA will share on National BSL Day.

Elsewhere, the charity has also announced it is searching for the UK’s first Deaf Poet Laureate to be the “official poet of the BSL signing community”.

The individual, who will be in post for one year until the next National BSL Day, will have a role similar to that of the King’s Poet Laureate, who is currently Simon Armitage.

The Deaf Poet Laureate will be “encouraged to create poetic works in BSL around major national events in the UK from a Deaf perspective”, the BDA said.

In a statement, Ms Mansell added: “Scotland has a Makar, Wales has a National Poet, and Northern Ireland has its own Poet Laureate. We feel the time is now right for a Poet Laureate for British Sign Language.

“We want to show the nation that British Sign Language is a rich, expressive, visual language that can do anything English can – and more!

“There is so much creative talent out there in the British Deaf community that the rest of the world is not yet aware of – we have Deaf poetry, theatre, dance, song, comedy, storytelling and folklore that are all a vital part of the cultural diversity of the UK.”

Deaf BSL signers interested in entering the competition can send a poem or piece of poetic work – such as BSL storytelling or folklore – of up to two minutes to bda@bda.org.uk by 28 April.

The winner will be selected by a panel of judges who will be announced “shortly”.

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

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.