MIKE HEDGES AM CALLS ON WELSH GOVERNMENT TO ACCEPT ALL OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PETITIONS COMMITTEE REPORT ON BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE.

MIKE HEDGES AM CALLS ON WELSH GOVERNMENT TO ACCEPT ALL OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PETITIONS COMMITTEE REPORT ON BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE.

Speaking after the Assembly debate, Swansea East AM, Mike Hedges AM said… as I noted at the start of my speech I have first hand experience through my family of the importance of British Sign Language. I completely support the recommendations of the Petitions Committee as outlined in our report. For too long, Deaf people in our communities have been excluded from education and social opportunities, as well as employment because of their hearing problems. This is simply not acceptable in the 21^st century, especially when British sign language can be used to break down so many of these barriers.

I look forward to the day when children and young people can learn sign language can learn and gain qualifications in BSL at school; we must also ensure that the qualification is recognised on an equal footing with English and Welsh GCSE’s.

Adoption of the Petition Committee recommendations is only a starting point in the process of ensuring that deaf people can play a full part in society – but it will be a significant start and I look forward to seeing these recommendations being implemented in the months ahead. 

Mike Hedges AM -     First of all, can I declare an interest in that my sister is profoundly deaf and a user of British Sign Language, and also, as president of Swansea Hard of Hearing Group? And before anyone says, 'Why not Welsh sign language?', sign language is descriptive. You translate the sign into any other language you are familiar with. It does not use an alphabet, but has signs to describe what someone wants to say.206

Turning to recommendation 1:207

'The Welsh Government should support British Sign Language as a minority language, and encourage local authorities to recognise it as the first language of many Deaf children and young people when providing support and education services.'208

For many deaf children, sign language is their first language, it's their language in the education system and it's the way that they converse and learn. Sign language should be treated as an equal language in the education system, no different to Welsh and English. It is a matter of educational equality that British Sign Language is treated equally with Welsh and English.209

The Petitions Committee said that we therefore recommend that the opportunity to learn British Sign Language is made available to children at all levels of education. As part of this, we encourage the Welsh Government to continue to explore the creation of a GCSE in first-language sign language with Qualifications Wales. I again hope that that will be pushed forward. That sums up what is needed, and that is a GCSE in British Sign Language, so that proficiency in it can be recognised. It should be treated equally to English and Welsh in terms of a GCSE. This would mean that when jobs ask for grade C or better in English or Welsh, then it should also say 'or British Sign Language'. This provides equality of opportunity for those who use British Sign Language as their primary method of communication.210

It is not only the deaf community that needs British Sign Language, but the rest of the population, who need to be able to communicate with those who are deaf. The petition calls for better access to British Sign Language classes for parents and siblings to support them in communicating with a deaf family member. Surely this is a reasonable request. The vast majority of children who are born deaf, or become deaf very young through diseases such as meningitis, mumps and measles, have hearing parents. A deaf child comes as a shock to parents and siblings who want to learn how to communicate with the deaf member of the family so that they're not left out. 211

Turning to the last committee recommendation:212

'We recommend that the Welsh Government continues its engagement with the Welsh Local Government Association on Workforce Planning for SEN specialist services, with a particular focus on teachers working with Deaf and hard of hearing children and young people. This should include
consideration of the longer term sustainability of these services. As part of this we support the introduction of a minimum standard BSL qualification for learning assistants supporting Deaf children and young people.'213

This is incredibly important, because if people are working with deaf children, then they have to have at least the same level of language as the children they're working with. Whatever qualifications and support we say should be provided become meaningless if we don't have people qualified to teach and support learners. We can pass and agree all sorts of things here about the importance of having this support, but unless we've got people trained and capable of providing the support, it's not going to happen. 214

Finally, the petition calls for services to be accessible to deaf young people in British Sign Language. Deffo! told the committee that many deaf young people are not able to access services and referred to a survey that suggested that most deaf people struggle to access healthcare such as GP surgeries. GP surgeries that only accept telephone calls for appointments or want patients to ring in and then ring patients back cause huge problems for those who are deaf and are not able to undertake that. I've talked to deaf people who have gone to a surgery and been told they've got to ring in. They say, 'Well, I can't hear', and it's, 'Well, that's the way we work.' And I think it is important that surgeries do show support, and I think it is important that surgeries realise that there are deaf people out there and that the one-size-fits-all of, 'Ring in, and we'll ring you back', doesn't work for people who can't hear. 215

There is a lot that needs to be done to help the deaf community. Accepting these Petitions Committee recommendations and implementing them would be a good start. Certainly not a finish, because the deaf community feel that they have not been treated fairly over many years. And I'm sure you recognise that, Deputy Presiding Officer. And it is important to ensure that we start making steps in that direction now