Sign Language Week Day 5
Sign Language Week Day 5
Promoting BSL
It is estimated that there are around 151,000 people in the UK who use BSL as their first language, and a further 87,000 who use it as their second language. That is a lot of people! By promoting BSL, we can all raise awareness of BSL users and the Deaf community.
A recent survey conducted by the National Deaf Children’s Society and the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf found that 58% said the support available to Deaf children year on year is actually decreasing. The same survey found that 95% of children want to learn BSL! It’s clear that we all need to be promoting the use of BSL and encouraging it to be taught from a early age.
How do we do this?
Well, here at Remark! we promote BSL in everything we do! It is part of our everyday culture and is ingrained into our working practice. We promote the learning of BSL through our training department, we promote the need for accessible content through out Access department, we promote BSL by providing Interpreters and Translators to thousands of clients, and we promote the need to foster a culture and community that is inclusive of BSL through out Community and Living Departments.
But it’s not just us! There are many charities and organisation that are working to promote BSL in England and you can do it too!
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) has launched a campaign to make BSL more accessible in public spaces and is calling for BSL interpreters to be made available in places like hospitals, police stations, and job centres, to ensure that BSL users are able to access these services.
SignHealth is a charity that exists to improve Deaf people's health and well-being. Their work is hugely varied and aims to promote easier access to healthcare and information, putting BSL front and centre of their work.
The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) provides a range of services to support Deaf children and their families, including BSL classes and support for parents of Deaf children. The NDCS is also involved in advocacy work, campaigning for greater access to BSL in education and other areas.
InterpreterNow is an on-line BSL/English interpreting service that quickly connects users to interpreters.
And of course the BDA, who started Sign Language Week in the first place!
Why not think about how you can promote BSL? Perhaps you can get your work place to book a Remark! Deaf Awareness Training or a BSL Taster Class? Maybe you can enrol on one of our BSL Level 1 Courses and tell all you friends and family about it? Maybe you can campaign to get BSL taught in schools? Or perhaps you can ensure that any content you create and promote online, is available in a fully accessible format? There are so many ways you can promote BSL, and the fact that you’re reading this is a great first step!
Here’s what some of our team said when I asked them:
Why is it important to promote the use of BSL in the UK?
“To create a more accessible society!”
“Because BSL is far more beautiful and poetic than English”
“To provide equal access for Deaf people on par with their hearing peers, to remove language deprivation in Deaf children, to reduce and eliminate loneliness for Deaf children and young people, and to live in a fairer world where there are less communication barriers for Deaf People.”, Jessica Wilde - Head of Remark! Interpreting
These are just a few of the MANY reasons why it is important to promote the use of BSL in the UK. Remark! will never stop promoting it. We take huge pride in the fact that British Sign Language is part of everything we do. Join us. Promote the use of BSL in the UK, and fight for a fully inclusive world.
Photo Credit: British Deaf Association (BDA)