- Conference
- 2021 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 8 July 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Conference recalls that UNISON Disabled Members Conference 2018 passed the motion ‘Legal Recognition of British Sign Language’. The motion explained that although the UK government formally recognised British Sign Language (BSL) as a language in its own right in 2003, this did not give full legal status to BSL. Scotland is the only country in the UK to give BSL full legal status and to agree to promote its use. BSL still does not have full legal status in England and Wales and the same is true of BSL and Irish Sign Language (ISL) in Northern Ireland.
Since 2018, we have faced a global pandemic and this has only made it clearer that there is a vital need to pass a BSL Act. Deaf people were left dangerously unprotected against Covid-19 when the UK prime minister’s daily press conferences were not supported by a live BSL interpreter in the room. This contrasted starkly with Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish government broadcasts which had live BSL interpreters which meant that Deaf viewers could get the information straight away and in an understandable format.
Live BSL allows greater understanding of the importance and urgency of what is being said and does not leave it down to broadcasters whether to include BSL or not. But in England Deaf people had to rely on recorded BSL interpretation on some news channels or often incorrect information on social media.
Deaf people have had extremely limited information relating to the pandemic, and this has caused much distress and has, for many people, had a negative impact on their mental health.
Conference notes that UNISON responded to the parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee enquiry into the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on disabled people where we raised the issue of BSL interpreters at UK government press conferences and we called for a BSL Act to address the dangerously inadequate level of communication with Deaf people.
Conference strongly believes that all government information should be accessible to everyone, not just hearing people, and calls on the National Committee to raise awareness of this issue.
Deaf native BSL users are a distinctive linguistic group whose rights should be protected. Achieving a BSL Act would mean that BSL would be protected and promoted in a similar way to Welsh and Gaelic languages. Service providers would be required to produce information and support where appropriate in BSL, giving equal access to services for sign language users and removing many of the everyday barriers that they currently face, and which result in widespread discrimination.
A BSL Act could also mean that the UK government would need to provide a live BSL interpreter in the room for all government briefings, whether about a pandemic, severe weather or other national emergencies.
Conference therefore calls on the National Disabled Members Committee to:
1)Campaign for a BSL Act for England, Wales and Northern Ireland that would achieve full legal recognition
2)Raise awareness of this issue with branches and regions
3)Consider ways UNISON can further contribute to this campaign.