Include Deaf People in Live National Addresses
Include Deaf People in Live National Addresses
Latest: Dec. 2, 2020
We're working with Where is the Interpreter? to launch a Judicial Review!
The Government avoided our challenge to the Daily Covid Briefings.... by abandoning them.
But, did you know that televised national addresses that don't involve Government Ministers such as the br…
Read more#WhereIsTheInterpreter
There are more than 80,000 Deaf people living in the United Kingdom for whom British Sign Language is their first language, before English. They are currently unable to access the Prime Minister’s Covid-19 briefings. We're taking action.
Starting with the #WhereIsTheInterpreter hashtag by Lynn Stewart-Taylor @jerseysnail, a variety of deaf individuals, organisations and charities across the UK sector have been asking that the Prime Minister’s office to provide a BSL English Interpreter live at televised national addresses during the COVID-19 crisis.
Without this essential support deaf people like 85-year-old ‘AK’ - who lives on his own and has no internet - had no idea about the emergency actions being taken until his daughter was able to tell him, days after the Prime Minister’s first address.
Imagine how isolated and anxious AK, and tens of thousands of other deaf people feel without this basic level of communication at a time of national crisis. Please contribute now and share this page with your friends, family and on social media so AK has the financial support to take on the government.
Case Background
British Sign Language users cannot always access the English language, so even if subtitles are available (which have not been consistently across the media) they may not fully understand the information provided by the Prime Minister and his advisers, subsequently posing a risk to themselves and others as they are not aware of the instructions and proposed guidelines for behaviours.
In many other countries, including Scotland, BSL English Interpreters are included by positioning the interpreter next to the speaker so that they can be filmed at the same time, removing the need for a separate studio and technicians which may be difficult to achieve at short notice.
The Legal Challenge
After weeks of campaigning on this without any real response from the Government we have engaged the legal team, Fry Law, who are supporting ‘AK’ by launching a Judicial Review application for breach of the Equality Act, Human Right Act and the UNCRPD, in the hope that the Court will order the government to provide an Interpreter.
We are raising £10,000.00 initially to get the legal challenge off the ground and may well need to raise more as the action continues. We'll keep you updated as the legal action develops.
Please support the campaign to remind Boris that everyone matters, and we want to ensure that AK has the financial help he needs to take on the Government’s lawyers for the good of all BSL English users in the UK.
Supported by:
Access Bedford
Action Deafness
ASLI - Association of Sign Language Interpreters
BATOD – British Association of Teachers of the Deaf
CfD – Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People
Deaf4Deaf
DCAL – Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre
DTOD - Deaf Teachers of the Deaf UK
DPAC – Disabled People Against Cuts
DeafPLUS
Gloucester Deaf Association
Lynn Stewart-Taylor
NUBSLI – National Union of British Sign Language Interpreters
NRCPD - National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People
Reasonable Access
SignHealth
Stop Changes to Access to Work
The Deaf LGBTIQA Project
The Limping Chicken Blog
The Royal Association for Deaf People
UK Council on Deafness
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Dec. 2, 2020
We're working with Where is the Interpreter? to launch a Judicial Review!
The Government avoided our challenge to the Daily Covid Briefings.... by abandoning them.
But, did you know that televised national addresses that don't involve Government Ministers such as the briefings by the Chief Medical Officer have no BSL English interpreting AT ALL?? Not even in-screen.
Our team at Fry Law have been told that the reasons are
"Due to the physical constraints of the historical site and the space at 10 Downing Street, and the Public Health England social distancing guidance in place to mitigate risk of infection during the pandemic, it has not been judged to be reasonable or appropriate to place a BSL interpreter and an additional camera operator in the same room as those conducting the daily briefings"
...... and that it's up to the BBC.
So, working with Catherine Casserley at Cloisters Chambers, and with the Where is the Interpreter? campaign, we're planning to support Katie Redstar in challenging the Government to provide an Interpreter for all live briefings across all channels. We expect to be issuing proceedings next week. More to follow!
#WhereIsTheInterpreter
May 21, 2020
Myth Busting!
Thanks for your amazing support so far!
Did you know that:
- For the first 9 big announcements there was no BSL English support at all??
- BSL English Interpreting Support is only in-screen on the BBC News Channel and doesn't cover the Q&As afterwards?
- Over 250 letters of claim have been sent to No.10 highlighting the problems being locked out of the information has caused and requesting a live 'on platform' interpreter. We await a response.
Since the campaign was started by @jerseysnail, various leading members of the House of Lords have publicly lobbied the PM to provide live BSL English Interpreting.
We have been given excuses for not sharing a platform with an Interpreter being:
- They can't get an Interpreter DBS checked fast enough;
- There isn't a spare 2 metres at Downing Street for an Interpreter.
Don't fall for it! Those excuses don't explain why no Interpreter was provided originally. They don't explain why no Interpreter is provided even when the PM is on his own. They don't show what other space options exist in Downing Street...... or why the Briefings can't happen somewhere else even if that is true.
Please help us raise funds to allow us to get the case before the Court and have a Judge decide. #Whereistheinterpreter.
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