Hannah Butler: Recognising BSL in Scotland’s new Education Bill (BSL)

Most Deaf people are familiar with the feeling of not being able to understand those around them.

The sense of being so alone, accompanied by a despairing frustration of feeling misunderstood, can be overwhelmingly real and painful.

Watch Hannah’s blog in BSL:

For me, this goes back to finding myself in a classroom, unable to keep up with debates, or dreading being asked a question while still processing earlier information through lip-reading.

Being able to communicate in our natural language is a fundamental human right, and this applies to British Sign Language (BSL) for many Deaf children and adults, including myself. This right to our language and our culture is now enshrined in law in Scotland. Scotland was the first UK nation to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into law. Article 30 of the UNCRC states that minority groups have a right to use their language, which for many Deaf people is BSL.

The failure to recognise the needs of users and learners of BSL in the first draft of Scotland’s Education Bill was, therefore, extremely disappointing.

Currently, the draft legislation states that the new education bodies – including the new exam board for Scotland which is being created in the bill – must consider the needs of pupils who learn and use Gaelic.

While the focus on Gaelic is welcome, it’s wrong that BSL is not similarly recognised. Both Gaelic and BSL are vibrant and legally recognised languages that allow access to culture and community. This lack of recognition for BSL risks limiting access to exams, education and life chances for many Deaf children and young people who use BSL as their first language, or who wish to learn it.

As a Deaf person and BSL user, I understand first-hand the isolation from not being able to communicate in my natural language. This had a negative impact on my education and mental wellbeing. I only saw an improvement in my learning abilities once I had access to BSL communication support at college and university.

I am proud to be part of the campaign to change the bill and give BSL the recognition it needs. 

The National Deaf Children’s Society, where I work, has teamed up with other organisations, including RNID, Deaf Action, Deafblind Scotland, and local groups, like Lothian Children Deaf Club, on a joint campaign. Our campaign is vital to ensure future generations of Deaf children and young people in Scotland have access to exams and other educational resources in BSL.

Working together with these other organisations in Scotland we submitted joint evidence to the committee discussing the bill. You can read our joint evidence online.

All the organisations then asked their members and supporters to write to the committee in support of our joint evidence. Nearly 400 people took action in this first phase of our campaign. We also met with committee members and asked them to raise questions about BSL during the committee’s discussions on the bill.

During the committee’s final evidence session on the bill in October, George Adam MSP, one of the MSP’s we had met with, asked the Minister in charge of the bill, Jenny Gilruth MSP, about BSL being overlooked. She said she recognised the importance of BSL and would get back to the committee with a suggested way forward. The committee chair then highlighted how many people had written to the committee in support of BSL.

While this was positive, this was just the first step of our campaign. 

There will be a full parliamentary debate on the bill in a few weeks’ time. We’re hoping Jenny Gilruth presents a strong proposal and we want to make sure every Member of the Scottish Parliament knows that BSL must not be forgotten in the bill. We won’t stop campaigning until BSL has its rightful place in the bill.

We hope this campaign results in the bill being amended so that BSL users and learners in Scotland get the recognition they need.

Hannah Butcher is a member of the National Deaf Children’s Society’s Policy and Campaigns team