Catholic Deaf Service support #whereistheinterpreter

Eleven million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing. More than 151,000 rely on British Sign Language (BSL) for communication. Yet the British government does not provide BSL interpreters for public service announcements. Broadcasters sometimes provide signers but vital Covid-19 public heath information, for example has been broadcast without.

Michelle Roca from Caritas Westminster Deaf Service, is supporting the campaign #whereistheinterpreter urging the government to provide all public service information in British Sign Language (BSL).

The writer and presenter, Lynn Stewart-Taylor, has been walking from Gloucester to London to raise awareness of this issue and to raise funds to challenge the government. She was due to arrive at Downing Street today, Friday 16th October, with letters of support for this campaign.

Lilian Greenwood, Sir Mike Penning, Lord Shipley, Ian Mearns, Tommy Sheppard and Rosie Cooper are the current members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness. The Twitter campaign #whereistheinterpreter has asked for one of them to greet her with the news that an interpreter will be with the Prime Minister, other government ministers and public health officials for all future announcements during the pandemic and afterwards.

One current excuse given for not providing an interpreter is that the room is not suitable. Michelle says: "If the room isn't suitable to socially distance from the interpreter, use a different room! This is not the broadcaster's responsibility, it is the government's responsibility. Scotland and Wales have both managed to provide interpreters, why on earth is it so difficult for England to do the same. Go Lynn!"

LINK

Follow Lynne Stewart-Taylor on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jerseysnail

Donate to the campaign: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/whereistheinterpreter

Read about Caritas Westminster Deaf Service: www.caritaswestminster.org.uk/deaf-service.php