(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) I am sure that you are all very familiar with the Martin Luther King speech, “I have a dream.” I will tell you now: like every other human being, we have dreams.
Professor Dunbar was talking about services and what is going on in television and so on. There is some BSL provision on television, and some cultural programming such as “See Hear”—not the Government see hear strategy; they are two different things. That programme has been going since 1981 and is one of the longest-running community programmes in the world. Where other programmes come and go, that flagship of the BBC has been widely recognised as an essential service.
However, we pay the same television licence fee as everyone else, and it is quite right that we expect perhaps not equity of service but something more than half an hour a week for only 20 weeks a year. Such programming is vital, because it is the cultural expression of deaf people that allows us to identify with cultural institutions and artefacts that celebrate our life, language and culture. It allows us, rather than being sad or depressed, or hidden in the corner as disabled people, to celebrate and enjoy our deaf art, theatre and poems—all the things that we can contribute and add to multicultural life in Britain.
Again I congratulate the BBC, which in 1989 set up programming to allow people to learn sign language instead of having to take courses. We know that people in Britain struggle to learn French and German, but the programme, with an accompanying book, was really popular.
We have such a beautiful, vibrant and exciting language to learn, and we could have seen the floodgates open. They did in a way, as a result of the BBC’s programme, but we want that to happen now in a positive, progressive way. It was the deaf community’s responsibility to respond to that interest, and we did so by training British Sign Language tutors to meet the huge explosion in demand.
Individuals have also made a difference. For example, Princess Diana was a great advocate and ambassador for British Sign Language as the patron of the British Deaf Association. She raised the profile of our language because she could sign a little bit, and she provided such a great role model. That encouraged even more people to come to our community, and promoted BSL in the most wonderful way.
We have talked about existing legislation, and adding to it, and discussed what is and what is not working. The Communications Act 2003 contains a 100 per cent requirement for captioning, which is very important for the huge hearing-impaired and hard-of-hearing community whose first language is English.
However, people in the deaf community who do not access the world through English have struggled. We have invision interpreters to address the part of the 2003 act that gives us 5 per cent of all television programming across all channels. That works out at 94 hours a week, which is positive, but those programmes are broadcast at 2, 3 and 4 o’clock in the morning. They are not highly visible, and are not celebrating our language and putting it out there. Unless you are a deaf insomniac, you will not be taking advantage of that programming.
Education is the most important issue. I have a dream of a BSL channel, although that might not become a reality. I would like to get up at 7 o’clock in the morning and, like my hearing counterparts, access what is going on in the world: home affairs and foreign affairs. I would like to get my access to the news directly through sign language before I go to work at 9 o’clock. I would like my kids to be able to access children’s programming or educational programming. We could make available in a cost-effective way that suite of services, which would include leisure programmes and chat shows. Of course we want that kind of equity, because we have those needs. The cultural life of deaf people is to be celebrated. What I have outlined is a dream, but it is a dream that is achievable over time.