North of the Stupid Line

It seems that at the root of everything is the absence of an Act of Parliament which enforces the right of Deaf people to use BSL. If a BSL Act was enacted, this would be the sure fire way of:

• Ensuring that service providers provide access to BSL users;
• Bringing BSL back into education as the predominant way to educate Deaf kids;
• Re-training audiologists to stop negative attitudes and forcing parents to conform to oralist methods;
• Improving Deaf and BSL awareness among the general populace; and
• Increasing the number of BSL users in the UK.

So, what do we need to do to get a BSL Act enacted?

1. Draft a BSL Bill, enter into a consultative process;
2. Decide whether to introduce it to Parliament via:
• A Private Members’ Bill by way of a Member of Parliament championing our cause; or
• A Public Bill (go here for more information on Public Bills).
3. The following stages then take place in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords:
• First reading (formal introduction of the Bill without debate);
• Second reading (general debate);
• Committee stage (detailed examination, debate and amendments. In the House of Commons this stage takes place in a Public Bill Committee;
• Report stage (opportunity for further amendments); and
• Third reading (final chance for debate and amendments are possible in the Lords).
4. When a Bill has passed through both Houses it is returned to the first House (where it started) for the second House’s amendments to be considered.
5. Both Houses must agree on the final text. There may be several rounds of exchanges between the two Houses until agreement is reached on every word of the Bill. Once this happens the Bill proceeds to the next stage: Royal Assent.
• Royal Assent (granted by the monarch); and
• Act of Parliament (the proposals of the Bill have now become law).
6. Commencement of the BSL Act, and equality for the Deaf community at last?

Any volunteers to kick off the process and draft a BSL Bill?

(Yes I know, a post by me! :-O)

Compared to non-existent rights for Deaf people in the 1900s, has much changed? We used to be thrown in mental asylums because we were unable to communicate effectively, sign language was seen as a threat to our “normality” and ability to speak, if a deaf child was lucky (sic) enough to be educated, it was usually shit and very oralist.

Fast forward to the 21st century, the only difference seems to be that we’re not thrown in mental asylums any more (although I’m sure it still happens when a frustrated Deaf person who can’t communicate with hearing people and has no access to education, language or the Deaf community). The rest still exists. Audiologists continue to inflict the opinion on parents of Deaf children that sign language is a no no, and education is still very oralist, with Deaf schools having been shut down and mainstreaming is becoming more prevalent.

It’s articles like these that make my blood boil:

• Parliament: Deaf Embryo selection to be made illegal
• A question
• easydiscrimination.com

When are Deaf people gonna get some respect, equal opportunities and above all, NO discrimination?

Another thing that makes my blood boil is the Deaf community’s passivism. I’m one of them. I don’t do enough to challenge the attitudes I come across either. But if we all did, then perhaps, just perhaps, things would start to change.

Or is it a case of, “and pigs might fly!”?

I admit it. I’ve lost the motivation for blogging.

What should I do about it?