Danni Darrah gives a short run down on what British Sign Language Week is and what you can do to show some support.
The BSL Community will never forget to commemorate the 18th March of 2003 - the day that British Sign Language was finally recognised as a language in its own right by the Government. In the U.K., there are approximately 11 million people who constitute the Deaf and Hard of Hearing with 151,000 now using British Sign Language fluently as a sole means of communication. For the British Government to have passed the recognition of BSL as a language has allowed for many opportunities for the d/Deaf community that makes life tasks slightly easier.
The British Deaf Association (BDA) set the week up with a special theme to celebrate annually. This year, BSL Week runs its course from the 15th to the 21st March and has a theme of "Sign Language for all". The week is a collective way of raising awareness for the ways that Sign Language can help and connect d/Deaf people across the country. The #SignLanguageWeek and #SignLanguageforAll trends during this week to help spread the word across accessible platforms.
"The week is a collective way of raising awareness for the ways that Sign Language can help and connect d/Deaf people across the country."
Each day of this week will be focussed on different aspects of Sign Language, such as "Sign Language at Home" or "Sign Language History" to provide a further knowledge on how BSL is used in every day life. The BDA have set these up on their website for anyone to have a look at activities or simply to become more aware of the week.
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