18 March is an important day for the Deaf community in the UK. It marks the 19th anniversary of the date British Sign Language was first recognized as a language in its own right by the UK government.
We are now 19 years later, and we hope that this year we will finally see a BSL Act which gives legal status to British Sign Language and required the government to put in place guidance for providing public services and information to Deaf people who use BSL.
So 18 March will be an important day. It also coincides with Sign Language Week 2022. The theme for this year is: "BSL Brings Us Together!"
We are going to host another big BSL Rally outside Parliament, to celebrate our beautiful, unique, visual language BSL and show the world that BSL does indeed bring us together!
We hope you can join us. We will be at Parliament Square Garden opposite the Houses of Parliament from 11:30am – 2:30pm.
All welcome! We will have secure areas for children and school groups, elderly people and those in wheelchairs, and Deafblind people with Usher’s.
If you are planning to come, please register on Eventbrite so we know how many are coming: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bsl-rally-parliament-square-garden-tickets
Please wear your brightest gloves, warm clothes and bring along colourful banners to show your love of BSL.
We are also looking for lots of volunteers to be event stewards. Please get in touch with us at: bda@bda.org.uk if you would like to volunteer.
We hope to see lots of you there at this very special event!
