This week marks Deaf Awareness Week (6-12 May), With a focus on spreading love, building trust, and celebrating Deaf culture as allies and friends, the theme connects to the British Deaf Association's new campaign, BSL in Our Hands.
The BSL in Our Hands campaign aims to address the critical need for early access to British Sign Language (BSL) for deaf children and their families. There are over 50,000 deaf children across the UK and the majority are born to hearing parents with limited or no knowledge of sign language. The cumulative impact of their lack of access to signing is now becoming an emergency. During Deaf Awareness Week, the BDA will launch two calls to action to support their BSL in Our Hands campaign.
On Monday, the first day of Deaf Awareness Week, the BDA will unveil their Handprint Petition. Instead of a traditional signature, they invite you to make a lasting impression by adding your painted handprints to a petition to support free access to BSL for all deaf children and their families or carers. The BDA will ask you to upload your handprint to the BDA website to support the petition, using this link – and create a beautiful decorated forest of handprints and swaying arms.
The petition's vision is clear:
“We want a world where every deaf child has the language to share their hopes, dreams, fears and ideas.
We want British Sign Language in the hands of those who need it most. There are over 50,000 deaf children across the UK, over 90% of whom are born to hearing parents with no knowledge of sign language.
Babies start to develop language from birth. Early language acquisition is essential for a child’s development and wellbeing, yet access to sign language is limited, patchy and expensive.
We need the Government to fund free access to sign language for every deaf child and their families. We need BSL in their hands, now.”
Individuals are encouraged to sign the petition and share their handprints on social media using #BSLinourhands #HandprintPetition.
During Deaf Awareness Week the BDA will unveil a BSL Manifesto outlining a vision for transforming access to BSL in the UK. Deaf people want the next government to transform the way British Sign Language is accessed in the UK by deaf children and their families. Deaf people want to take the lead on delivering this transformation to benefit future generations.
Language acquisition in the first years of life is essential
The evidence shows that children with inadequate access to any form of language experience language deprivation. This has serious life-long consequences for deaf children’s language, emotional and cognitive development and their wellbeing.
Currently there is no national programme of early years BSL provision for deaf children in the UK. Experts agree the way forward is clear. The four-point plan includes:
- Talk to the BDA. The UK’s only national representative organisation for BSL and the Deaf community
- Free and immediate BSL support for deaf babies and their families. This is not only a right, it’s a necessity
- Full access to bilingual education in both fluent English and fluent BSL
- The upcoming BSL GCSE must be taught by fluently signing Deaf teachers
This roadmap shows how to put BSL into the hands of those who need it the most. To read the full BSL Manifesto, go to: bda.org.uk/our-manifesto
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