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: Monica England | Evidence from: Monica England
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.
Yes because I perceive this as discrimination if Wales is left behind to the rest of the UK. It is not fair tho those Deaf people who live in Wales.
I agree. This is because I have had to emotionally support and advocate for my daughter who is a BSL user who has experienced limited access and being treated unfavorably time and time again in health, work, education and use of public and support services.
Yes
Yes
Yes.
I am a hearing BSL user to a certain extent myself as are some other members of my family including my other daughter as well as my two granddaughters. My granddaughters who are currently less than 1 year old are being exposed to BSL as their first language as they are Children of a Deaf Adult (CODA).
Yes.
Yes I think is a better term to use to refer to these people as it acknowledges them as social beings with cultural and language needs rather than as having an impairment or need to be fixed.
Strongly disagree.
My Deaf daughter once worked for a public service in Wales and tried to have a voice in the design and delivery of it to make it more deaf friendly. Sadly, her input was not valued and ignored so she left this workplace.
Strongly agree.
At the end of the day Deaf people are the experts after experiencing deafness themselves on a daily basis and therefore are the best people to design and deliver public services to make them Deaf friendly.
I would like to acknowledge that Deaf blind users who use BSL need specific tactile methods of communication using BSL. I also would like to see public services using text messages, emails and Video relay services as options of methods of communication to communicate with Deaf clients/patients/customers etc
Education; Health; Social Care; Transport; Other Public Services used by deaf people and their families; Workplace.
COVID Vaccination centres, primary and secondary schools, Job centres, local community Hubs. My daughter has experienced lack of access to BSL in her higher education course at Swansea University due to poor deaf awareness across the whole university despite her and her supervisors attempts to improve this in a timely manner. She now has been granted another year to study her course in light of the poor access she experienced. My daughter is a deaf parent of a young child with specific health needs and has to attend hospital regularly in emergencies and for scheduled appointments. BSL provision has not always been granted and they have attempted to communicate with her by calling on her mobile when told specifically NOT to! Our own GP practice has also tried to call her several times regarding her own health when she cannot hear on the telephone at all! There is no deaf awareness in the social care service we receive from social services and although they booked interpreters for visits with the social worker they have got no specialist social worker for deaf people whereas once upon a time there was a specialist social worker for deaf people. My daughter has been unable to hear last minute announcements at train stations regarding change of platform number and has missed trains and been late for work as a result. We currently have a heath visitor for my granddaughter who does not take into account my deaf daughters needs in the care of her own daughter and are having to request another one. She has experienced discrimination in the workplace on numerous occasions with regards to specific fire safety needs and to accommodate her BSL interpreters for her to have access to BSL. It is only when she has worked for a deaf service that she has not experienced problems in the workplace in Wales. Whenever we have attended a covid vaccinations centre, a Jobcentre PLUS, a local community hub, a hospital or a GP practice in Wales without a prior appointment there is never any option for provision of BSL services or at least VRS services for instant access to BSL. I fear that my daughter will have poor access to communication with the schools that my granddaughters will attend in the future as I have heard from so many deaf parents who experience poor deaf awareness and numerous barriers in accessing communication with professionals at their children's schools.
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.
Yes
I would like to also include:
Help promote a bigger supply of BSL interpreters including setting up funding to train more and encourage to work in the profession. This is beacuse a shortage of interpreters in Wales has often impacted my daughter in the fields of education, health, work and in use of public services so we need to develop a training scheme to grow the number of interpreters working in Wales so that every Deaf BSL user has their language needs met when using any service.
Provide free BSL classes to families of Deaf children and those professionals who work with them. This is because I have encountered numerous people who are personally or professionally involved with Deaf people but classes are too expensive for them to be able to attend.
Yes
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.
1. Deaf BSL users know the needs of deaf BSL users best.
2. Families suffer as a result of not being able to have an accessible communication method or language to communicate with any deaf members of the family.
3. So many deaf BSL users cannot access the school curriculum unless it is in BSL and unfortunately fail to achieve qualifications and fulfill their potential and struggle to thrive when growing up.
4. There are not enough interpreters in Wales to cover all Deaf BSL users needs and teherfore some have to go without or decline when trying to use a public service.
Yes.
There are annual reports published for many other purposes and the Deaf community deserve to have their language acknowledged and treated equally as citizens as is the Welsh language as well as other population groups such as older people, younger people etc. Deaf people have been excluded for far too long.
If there had been some sort of legislation of BSL when my daughter was younger and we as a family had access to information about BSL as a language and the ability to learn this as a language it would not have torn our family apart. I understand this often happens to other families with Deaf children and adults and I strongly feel that this issue can be avoided if the BSL Wales Bill were to be implemented.