British Sign Lanaguge Accessibility

The Scottish Government recognises that the BSL communities are underrepresented across organisations and services in Scotland. We want to promote and develop sustainable approaches to ensure the most impactful work is being carried out to ensure the level of BSL accessibility in Scotland are visible, high quality and widely available.

By Draft 2029

Scottish Ministers will

  • Draft Action 14

    To co-ordinate an effort with listed authorities and BSL/deaf communities within the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 to establish sustainable approaches in the development and implementation of their BSL plans, ensuring that cost-effective work is taking place proportionately within their authorities to help their BSL plans target issues more effectively.

  • Draft Action 15

    To develop a classification framework around British Sign Language, identifying the multiple perspectives including accessibility and as a linguistic minority, and create a guidance in partnership with the See Hear strategy to provide more consistency in approaches to BSL.

  • Draft Action 16

    The Scottish Government will develop guidance on BSL access for public engagement, including quality assurance of BSL translations.

  • Draft Action 17

    Review the BSL accessibility of the Scottish Government website, and work with BSL organisations to ensure a high standard of the accessibility of the website.

  • Draft Action 18

    To consider funding mechanisms for Contact Scotland BSL, and promote the use of this services across the public sector.

  • Draft Action 19

    To support the uptake of SignPort, an online portal for BSL/English interpreter bookings which will be launched for public use, within the Scottish Government and public bodies.

  • Draft Action 20

    The Scottish Government will develop an Implementation Working Group for the BSL National Plan, with the aim of regularly reviewing the National Plan’s commitments to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the BSL communities in Scotland throughout the lifetime of this Plan.