BDA Sign Community : October 2007

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October 2007

The BDA Congress at Southport (9th to 11th August 2007) was an important landmark in BDA’s history for two key reasons. Firstly, by going back to what drove the BDA to exist in the first place, the right to have sign language (BSL) in Education, more of which is given elsewhere in this magazine and will also feature in future issues of SignMatters.

The second reason, is the contents and implications of the official statement given out on the last day of Congress at the EGM, regarding the financial situation of the organisation and stating how the BDA will move forward with the new objectives.

The first part of the statement provided the background from 2003 to present, regarding the current financial difficulty that the organisation is facing, and the members at EGM appreciated that the presentation from David Buxton, Honorary Treasurer, and myself gave. I am pleased that the responses were positive, but the most important element is what I will term as the ‘roadmap’ to take the BDA forward.

I would like to stress that the four strands of the new vision as set by the previous board in January 2003 is still an important part of the BDA and the roadmap is primarily to take the necessary steps to avoid a real possibility of insolvency for the organisation should we continue unchanged on the former course. However, two new important objectives will mark 2007 Congress as an important milestone, and these are;

1. Campaigning

The immeasurable importance and the practical value of having a political voice for the Deaf Community cannot be ignored. In previous articles I have touched on the value and importance of the BDA to the members and wider society. Last month I said it is:
‘… important for BDA to be able to show greater leadership as we are the only national organisation run by Deaf people for the Deaf people…’

We are aware that recently the BDA has not been doing enough on representing the Deaf Community and has not been as engaged with the political scene as we could have been. I would like to make clear that this is something that we are now working on as part of the new direction of the BDA in the long term. Our first priority is to ensure that we improve the financial situation that we are currently in - this is clearly a process that will take a while to complete.

There can be no large changes without being involved in the political process. To give an example, the success of Welsh language being put on the political agenda and the achievements therein are a great deal to do with the politics and campaigning. The rise of Welsh nationalism and the success of the decades of pressures which brought to bear the Welsh Language Act 1993, and the clear tangible results show how the Welsh language is being more popularly used and given a status equal to the English language, in Wales.

Clearly, the Deaf Community and our supporters, including hearing family members and all those working in the field would dearly love to see BSL being accorded such a status as given to the Welsh language. The focus during the Southport Congress was with BSL IN Education for young Deaf people, and clearly there is a need for campaigning and political work to get closer to the vision of BSL being accorded an equal status in education and being used more widespread in the UK.

2. Partnership

The BDA has a unique role and position in the UK and it is right that we make ourselves distinct from the other organisations working with the Deaf people throughout the UK. However, the financial situation means we would need to forge a greater level of partnerships on all levels to better achieve our goals.
This is not just for the benefit of the BDA, as in my new role of Chair travelling around the UK and meeting people from various organisations over the past few months, it has been made crystal clear that many organisations still value the BDA as an important organisation and is looked upon to provide the focal leadership for UK-wide Deaf Community.

Congress Resolution was passed unanimously in Southport at the close of Congress. We will need to work more closely with other like-minded partners in raising the agenda of BSL in education. Also, to achieve the important role of Deaf Adults in education, there is undeniably a greater degree of success through working in strong partnership.

There will be an announcement of new partnerships in the near future and the BDA will be shortly regaining its membership of UKCOD to ensure stronger representation of UK wide Deaf-led agenda in the wider politics, as well as ensuring that the BDA are not missing out on any developments.

The two new objectives will take time to develop and in the meantime, please do take the time to read the official statement on our website (www.signcommunity.org.uk) and we look forward to working with our members, stakeholders and future partners in a new era of the BDA.