Shane Gilchrist: The House on the Hill is Alive with Signing!: Sign Language Act passed in Northern Ireland
On 28th April 2026 in Belfast, something remarkable happened on the front steps of Stormont. The deaf community travelled in droves to Northern Ireland’s Parliament Buildings to witness a historic moment, cheering the passing of the Sign Language Bill. After many years of campaigning, Northern Ireland had finally and legally recognised our two sign languages.
The Sign Language Bill has successfully passed its final stage at Stormont and is now moving forward for Royal Assent later in this summer. This exciting development means that BSL and Irish Sign Language (ISL) will be officially recognised as languages of Northern Ireland.
It was truly wonderful to see a unanimous vote from both sides, which is quite rare and special. The bill was passed with broad support from MLAs representing all traditions and was greeted by applause from the deaf community in the public gallery. This is a significant step forward for sign languages in Northern Ireland. What makes this Bill distinctive and genuinely groundbreaking is its dual nature. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where both BSL and ISL are in everyday use, reflecting the region’s unique position straddling two Traditions. No other legislature on these islands has produced a bilingual sign language law of this kind. In addition, Northern Ireland is now one of the four regions that recognise two or more sign languages: Belgium being the other country with VGT, LSFB and DGS; Spain with LSE and LSC; Switzerland with DSGS, LSF-CH and LIS-CH; and Finland with SVK and FSTS. For a good example of our sign multilingualism here, we had the Communities Chair (Colm Gildernew MLA) thanking us, signing in ISL and being voiced over by a BSL interpreter!
The Bill is about more than symbolic recognition.
The Department for Communities will provide free sign language classes to deaf children and young people under 25 and their families: that is a first in the UK. As many deafies know, it is not common to have a non-signing hearing parent who cannot ask their deaf child about their day, comfort them at night, or follow along at a school meeting. That can mean delayed language acquisition and isolation for many deaf children. Plenty of studies say that when hearing parents of deaf children are unable to communicate in sign language, it can significantly impact their children’s language development, mental health and educational success.
BDA is elated with the outcome. Their NI manager Caroline Doherty is barely able to contain herself, saying, “This is a hugely significant moment for Deaf communities in Northern Ireland. The recognition of both BSL and ISL reflects the reality of our linguistic and cultural landscape and sends a powerful message about inclusion, respect and equality. The BDA is fully committed to supporting the implementation of this legislation. We will work closely with government colleagues to ensure that Deaf people are not only included but are actively influencing and shaping the services that affect their lives. This must lead to meaningful, lasting change for our community.”
Introducing the Bill, the Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons, began his speech in BSL directed for the public gallery where the deaf community was. The symbolism was not lost on anyone in the room. “For generations, deaf people have built rich linguistic, cultural and social communities through sign language, yet that history has too often been marked by exclusion,” he said. The deaf community was relieved, as we had fought for so long.
This Bill was not handed off to a backbencher, as it has been in London, Scotland, and Wales: it was brought directly by the Government (the Executive in this case). That distinction matters big time. When a government stakes its own authority on a piece of legislation rather than leaving it to a private member, it is making a declaration. The Northern Ireland Assembly did not merely tolerate this Bill. It claimed it. A very important respect for the deaf community in Northern Ireland.
It has been a long road. Deaf campaigners in the UK have fought for this legislation since the 1970s. The BDA Manifesto in 1982 demanded BSL recognition: a rallying cry that reverberated into Northern Ireland. And who did we spot causing a delicious stir in Belfast’s Cornmarket? None other than Noel Traynor and Brian Symington, making their voices heard/signed for all to see — much to the horror of certain oralist teachers, who were reportedly not amused. How scandalous! Later on, with the opening of the BDA’s Northern Ireland office in 1997 at Wilton House, Majella McAteer was employed as its first salaried staff, anchoring the campaign in the region, driven further by Belfast’s own Jeff McWhinney during his tenure as BDA chief executive.
When the Assembly was still standing, its Department for Culture, Arts & Leisure (Communities now) launched a consultation that drew over 300 video submissions in BSL and ISL from the deaf community in 2010 alone. Every deaf organisation and group in Northern Ireland threw themselves into this campaign from the start: years of relentless time and energy poured into a cause that could not afford to lose. The Assembly Committee’s scrutiny process consumed nearly 12 months of gruelling engagement, evidence gathering, and legislative battle at the end of which deaf community pressure succeeded in raising the age limit for free classes from under 19 to under 25 which is a landmark first for the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Dr Rob Wilks, senior lecturer in law at the University of the West of England, who has analysed and compared the UK’s four sign language acts, had this to say about the Sign Language Act: “the act is unique in that it is the most rights-bearing of all the UK’s acts, making it arguably the strongest of all the sign language laws in the UK. As well as giving deaf children and adults and their families the right to learn either sign language, it also recognises that deaf people are entitled to use either sign language in their everyday activities.”
There is so much to do, although. We do not have enough deaf teachers available to teach family sign language (due to its part-time nature). Legislation is only ever a beginning. But on the steps of Stormont, something that once felt impossibly distant became very real…and the deaf community of Northern Ireland cheered in our two languages.
