P-04-628 To improve access to Education and services in British Sign Language
P-04-628 To improve access to Education and services in British Sign Language
We
call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to improve
access to Education and services in British Sign Language to improve the
quality of life for Deaf people of all ages.
Improve
Access for families to learn BSL: When a child is diagnosed as being Deaf/hard
of hearing parents should be offered free/subsidised BSL lessons (BSL level one
costs approximately £300 per person). By using speech alone, Deaf children
struggle/fail to develop communication skills missing important milestones.
Learning other languages through BSL (English/Welsh) will improve the child's
understanding and comprehension.
Introduce
BSL on the National Curriculum: Deaf Children and young people who are taught BSL
at an early age will have better access to their education and an improved
wellbeing. BSL should be available in schools and taught by qualified Deaf
teachers, for all to learn as this would achieve better access for all in
society. We believe that BSL should be offered as a language for all learners
as a qualification. GCSE Welsh (and other modern languages) are not always
offered to Deaf students: this also needs to be improved.
Improving
access to Education in BSL for Deaf Children and Young People: currently they
have limited access to Education in BSL, and often experience under qualified
support. There is a massive gap in the education of Deaf children, as many are
wrongly treated as having a Learning Disability. This has a negative impact on
their development in life, reducing independence with poor education, resulting
in under-employment. They need adequately qualified Communication Support
Workers available in school.
Making
Services and resources accessible in BSL for Deaf young people: enabling BSL
users to access information in their preferred language via digital resources
to services such as Education, Health care, Social Services and public
transport, giving them equality to access as an equivalent to Welsh Language
access.
Sefydliad: Deffo!
Lead petitioner: Cathie Robins-Talbot
First considered by the
Committee:
24 March 2015
Number of signatures: 502 online signatures,
660 paper. Total signatures = 1,162
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: For consideration
First published: 23/03/2015
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