BSL Plan – we want to hear from BSL users!
The Highland Council and its partners at the University of the Highlands and Islands and NHS Highland are preparing their first British Sign Language (BSL) plans, which will be published in October.
These will reflect a national BSL Plan published by the Scottish Government last year. The Scottish Government wants Scotland to be the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work and visit. They believe that deaf people who use BSL as their first language should be involved in daily and public life and be able to make informed choices about every part of their lives.
As part of this vision, the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 requires public bodies across Scotland to publish plans every six years detailing how they will promote and support BSL in their area.
The Highland Council, the University of the Highlands and Islands, NHS Highland and other public bodies would like to know what is important to BSL users in Highland – this includes Deaf BSL users, hearing BSL users (e.g. Interpreters, families/carers of BSL users.
BSL users in Highland can give their views to the partner agencies in different ways.
A drop-in session is being held in Inverness on the afternoon of Saturday 14 July. If you use, or know someone who uses BSL, or if you are the parent / carer of a deaf person, you can drop-in anytime between 3pm-5pm at the Cameron Youth Centre, Planefield Road, Inverness. BSL interpreters are booked for this event. There is also an online survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/8G5DNKR or people can send their views by email to HighlandBSLplans@highland.gov.uk
For more information on the BSL Plans consultation visit www.highland.gov.uk/BSLplan.