(Photo by Scottish Government via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0)
Note: Portions of the included interviews have been edited for brevity and clarity. Some names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.
The BSL (Scotland) Act
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson provided daily updates. There was a notable difference between the two. At every one of her briefings, a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter joined Sturgeon to deliver the daily address. 250,000 people across Scotland tuned in to watch the briefings, where BSL took center stage.
BSL has not always held such a prominent and visible position in Scottish life. The passing of the 2015 BSL (Scotland) Act led to the language’s newfound status after members of the Scottish Parliament voted unanimously to pass the BSL Bill on September 17th. Since the introduction of the BSL Act, the Scottish Government has rolled out a BSL national plan. Local authorities and bodies like the National Health Service have introduced plans to increase the accessibility of BSL in Scottish society.
The aim of the BSL Act is practical: to ensure the Deaf community has equal access to public services, including transportation, healthcare, and the judicial system. The legislation seeks to improve access to employment and educational opportunities. Importantly, the change uplifts the Deaf community and celebrates BSL as an official national language.
The History of BSL
Official legislation defining BSL as a national language is significant. Societies often marginalize and misunderstand people who are deaf. Promoting BSL is an important step in tackling this form of discrimination in the UK. Although evidence suggests that Deaf communities have used sign language since ancient Egypt and Greece, there are very few historical records of the language. In the UK, campaigners have called for the legal recognition of BSL for over a century.
Throughout history, Deaf people in the UK have formed their own communities in the face of discrimination and exclusion. Deaf schools and clubs have played a key role in shaping the development of deaf identity and culture. However, the first school for the deaf in Scotland, which opened in 1760, did not prioritise sign language. Even schools for the deaf encouraged lip reading—attempting to understand speech from the movement of the speaker’s mouth—because of the stigmatization of sign language. Society forcing the use of lip reading had very negative effects on many deaf students’ learning.
There are 22 schools for the deaf in the UK, three of which are in Scotland. Many schools closed their doors following the publication of the 1978 Warnock report, which suggested that deaf children would benefit more from mainstream education. Additionally, various in-person clubs have disappeared due to new technologies that transform the way deaf people meet.
The closure of physical deaf spaces has changed the face of Deaf culture in the UK. Whereas different demographics used to come together regularly, nowadays many young deaf people use the internet to build relationships with their peers. The rise in virtual communication affects BSL’s regional dialects as deaf people chat more with people outside of their local area. The internet has presented more distance-learning opportunities for people to learn BSL, contributing to the language’s standardization.
What Has Changed for the Deaf Community in Scotland?
Scotland introduced the BSL Act in 2015, ahead of England and Wales in 2022. Currently, the Northern Ireland Assembly is debating a sign language bill that would improve BSL and Irish Sign Language (ISL) accessibility. Some deaf activists have described the UK BSL Acts as tokenistic and have expressed doubts that it does not go far enough. Others have celebrated the success of the Act, citing increased accessibility, more employment opportunities, and heightened awareness of the Deaf Community.
To find out more about how the BSL (Scotland) Act has impacted the daily lives of BSL users, I spoke to deaf university students Abbie Donati and Alex MacGregor, and researcher Robert Adam.
“We have the right to use and access BSL everywhere in Scotland.” – Abbie Donati
Abbie Donati is a university student studying psychology. Abbie is fluent in both BSL and English. She works for the Youth Advisory Group at the British Deaf Association and volunteers as a counsellor for Childline, a free helpline set up by the UK National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
“I learned BSL at Saturday clubs when I was a child. Without BSL, I would be very lost in life because it is how I communicate. All of my deaf friends use BSL in their daily lives, but my family only knows the basics now. They are hearing, and I prefer to speak [English] with them. I must say that accessibility before the BSL Act was horrid! School was quite hard for me, although I did have support. At my university now, I have a BSL interpreter and a notetaker.
Thanks to the BSL Scotland Act, I have seen some changes. I see advertisements in BSL, and the announcements at Glasgow Central Station are all in BSL too. To be honest, I haven’t noticed many other changes. I think it has impacted my life, though. Our rights as BSL users have been formally put into legislation. We have the right to use and access BSL everywhere in Scotland and get support for it.
On the other hand, even now, there is still no real deaf awareness among the hearing community. We are continuing to fight for it. If I could give hearing people a message, it would be, if you want to take sign language classes, make sure you go to a deaf tutor, not a hearing one, and that you practice within Deaf communities. That is the best environment to learn in!
If I could go back in time to talk to myself as a child, I would encourage myself to stick with school. I would tell myself that staying in education will be worth it. I would also say, make sure you stay confident as you go through life!”
“When I was growing up in Scotland, I got the feeling people didn’t really understand what it was like to be deaf.” – Alex MacGregor
Alex MacGregor is a Scottish medical student, studying at a university in England. They grew up using BSL. Although they mostly use spoken language as an adult, they consider knowing BSL an important part of their identity.
“I don’t remember learning BSL. I have used it for as long as I can remember. [On the] weekend[s], I would go to a sign language club so I could meet other deaf children who used BSL. At primary school, all my lessons were taught in sign language and English. When I was growing up, my family used BSL, but as I got older, I stopped communicating with them in BSL as much.
When I was growing up in Scotland, I got the feeling people didn’t really understand what it was like to be deaf. It can be hard to order at cafés, especially when there is background noise. It’s quite stressful, especially if you’re talking to a stranger. It used to be difficult to make phone calls, and that was a real barrier for me. Nowadays, new technology has made that a lot easier.
There’s something special about being part of the Deaf community. I grew up within a culture and a group of people who were like me. Without deaf people, we wouldn’t have sign language in the world. It’s a useful language, even for hearing people! You can communicate from a distance or when there’s a lot of noise.
The thing I have noticed since the introduction of the BSL Act in Scotland is that there are more BSL recordings on websites, and there are BSL translations of announcements at train stations. Sessions at the Scottish Parliament are interpreted into BSL. It hasn’t really impacted my life because I mostly rely on my cochlear implant and new technologies. The most important thing I would say is that we need to make it easier to book interpreters. More people should do interpreter training.”
“It’s not just communication – it’s identity, empowerment, and belonging.” – Robert Adam
Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Robert Adam is an academic based at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. His current research focuses on linguistics, interpreting and translation, and Deaf community engagement. He works closely with Deaf organizations and interpreters on research projects internationally and across the UK.
BSL is part of my daily life, both professionally and socially. I use it at home, with friends, at community events, and for everyday tasks like booking appointments or chatting with neighbours. I use Auslan (Australian Sign Language) with family and friends in Australia and International Sign when travelling or working with Deaf people from other countries. It’s not uncommon for Deaf people to be multilingual in sign languages.
Thanks to the BSL Act, the presence of BSL in public life has increased. For example, BSL is now used more frequently on government websites, in public announcements, and at events. Deaf people can make calls through Contact Scotland BSL [an online platform connecting businesses to interpreters so they can communicate with deaf people]. I can see better provision of BSL interpreting in medical settings.
The biggest impact has been the shift towards recognizing BSL as a language. That cultural change, while still ongoing, has opened up more conversations and opportunities. However, progress has been inconsistent and often more symbolic than structural.
Access has improved in some areas, but the underlying systems that would make real equality possible still need reform. The Act doesn’t set out how deaf children can learn BSL, and that is a great pity! Real transformation, like consistent BSL access to services or proper investment in Deaf education, hasn’t yet materialized.
We need long-term funding for education in BSL, training for interpreters (both deaf and hearing), training for BSL teachers, and support for Deaf children and their families. Crucially, Deaf people need to be in leadership roles shaping policy, not just as clients or service users. BSL gives Deaf people a sense of community, culture, and opportunity. It’s not just communication – it’s identity, empowerment, and belonging.
A Step in the Right Direction
The implementation of the BSL Scotland Act has been an important step in the right direction. The Act aims to ensure that the Deaf community in Scotland has equitable access to public services.
However, after a decade following its introduction, there is still work to be done. Scotland needs to improve access to interpreters, which will require more people to learn BSL to a high level. Investing more public spending in community interpreting will increase interpreter pay and make the profession more appealing.
As Abbie Donati highlighted, anyone interested in learning a signed language should approach tutors from within the Deaf community. Learning BSL is not only about acquiring a new language, but about understanding and celebrating the richness of Deaf culture in the UK. Alex MacGregor believes that all hearing people should learn at least the basics: “Even learning finger-spelling is better than nothing. You will be able to get your message across. Deaf people don’t want to communicate via an interpreter all the time.”
Robert Adam agrees with Alex MacGregor that deaf people should not have to adapt to hearing norms, stating, “Learning to sign can be life-changing. It makes communication more accessible and opens up a whole new perspective on the world. Respect for a language community means meeting us where we are, in our language.”
Edited by Emma Webb
