BSL-13 Individual

Senedd Cymru | Welsh Parliament

Bil Aelod Arfaethedig – Mark Isherwood AS | Proposed Member Bill - Mark Isherwood MS

Datblygu'r Bil Iaith Arwyddion Prydain (BSL) (Cymru) | Development of the British Sign Language (BSL) (Wales) Bill

Ymateb gan: Unigolyn | Evidence from: Individual

The need for legislation

The British Sign Language Act 2022 requires the UK Government to issue guidance about the promotion and facilitation of the use of British Sign Language (BSL). This however only applies in England and not to the Welsh Government or public bodies in Wales such as councils or the NHS. The British Sign Language (BSL) (Wales) Bill aims to place equivalent specific duties on the Welsh Government and public bodies in Wales.

Question 1: Do you think there is a need for this legislation? Please provide reasons for your answer.

Absolutely! With the current number of QTOD's available in Wales declining, along with a very limited number of those who can speak Welsh (I believe in my locality of South Wales, I will be the third once I qualify in 2025 as a QTOD who can teach and work with families and children of Welsh speakers), poor access within the health services and wider community, along with the decision to scrap BSL as a GCSE in spite of the language being a part of the Curriculum for Wales, and still going ahead in England, (is this the cross-nation joint Labour party working we in Wales should become accustomed with?) it is very important for BSL to have an equal standing in Wales as it is a legally recognised language.

Question 2: Do you agree or disagree with the goals that the Bill seeks to achieve? Please provide reasons for your answer.

I agree with the goals that the Bill seeks to achieve for the reasons listed in my previous answer.

British Sign Language

Question 3: Do you agree that the Bill should include proposals to promote and facilitate the use of BSL and its tactile forms?

Yes

Question 4: Do you agree that the Bill should support the various Welsh regional dialects of BSL?

Yes

Question 5: Do you think that the term ‘BSL users’ should be replaced with ‘BSL signers’, recognising that BSL is a language which includes both deaf and hearing signers? Please provide reasons for your answer.

Yes.

The term signer is in my opinion the equivalent of the term speaker, as BSL is the language of a community, the same as English, Welsh, Punjabi or any other spoken language of other communities within Wales.

Question 6: Do you think that the term ‘deaf BSL signers’ can be used when referring to BSL users/signers who are medically or audiologically deaf? Please provide reasons for your answer.

I suppose it would differentiate between users who are deaf and those that are hearing. I don't believe that we carry out the same kind of differentiation between first language Welsh speakers and second language Welsh speakers, so why should there be a differentiation between deaf and hearing BSL users?

Deaf Communities

Question 7: Do you agree or disagree that deaf communities:

a) currently have a voice in the design and delivery of the public services that they use? Please tick the answer that most applies and provide any comments.

Disagree

If the community had a greater input, barriers within services would not exist.

b) should have a formalised voice in the design and delivery of the public services that they use, especially ones targeted at deaf people. Please tick the answer that most applies and provide any comments.

Agree

Services need to continue to work with organisations and charities such as WCDP, NDCS and RDS in order to meet the needs of the community within Wales.

Question 8: Are there any specific communication methods used by deaf people that you would like the Bill to reference/include?

Approximately 90% of deaf children are born into hearing families who have no other members that are deaf or use BSL. With BSL as a new language to these families, SSE (sign supported English) also plays a role for them.

Barriers that exist for deaf people

Question 9: What do you believe are the main barriers that currently exist for deaf people and/or their families in the following areas. Please tick all that apply and provide information/examples on each area:

Education; Health; Social Care; Transport; Other Public Services used by deaf people and their families; Workplace.

Establishing a BSL Commissioner for Wales

The Bill proposes to establish a BSL Commissioner who would promote and facilitate the use of BSL, and would have the same powers as other minority language Commissioners such as in the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011.

Question 10: Do you agree or disagree with the proposal to establish a BSL Commissioner for Wales, and, do you have any different suggestions or alternatives? Please provide reasons for your answer.

Yes

Question 11: The proposed remit of the Commissioner would be to:

§ formulate BSL standards;

§ establish a BSL Advisory Panel;

§ produce reports every 5 years in BSL, Welsh and English on the position of BSL in that period;

§ provide guidance and a process for public bodies to promote and facilitate BSL in their respective domains;

§ establish a procedure for the investigation of complaints.

Do you agree with the proposed remit of the Commissioner, and are there any other provisions you would like to include in the Commissioner’s remit? Please provide reasons for your answer.

I agree with the outlined remit of the commissioner for my previous outlined reasons.

Question 12: Do you agree that the BSL Commissioner and the BSL Advisory Panel members should be fluent users/signers?

Yes

Question 13: Do you think that the proposed BSL Commissioner and Advisory Panel should prioritise the following. Please tick all that apply and provide reasons for your answer.

Enabling deaf users/signers to lead the development of policies and implementation of services for BSL users/signers; Early years language support for deaf children and their families; Improving BSL provision in education; Access to interpreters in public services.

Question 14: Do you agree or disagree with the proposal to place a duty on the Welsh Government to prepare and publish an annual BSL report? Please provide reasons for your answer.

Yes