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Hounslow Liberal Democrats |
The Deaf deserve to be heard
April 26, 2001 12:00 AM
By Cllr Ray Fincher, Liberal Democrat Group Leader in Feltham Chronicle/Hounslow Chronicle
By Cllr Ray Fincher, Liberal Democrat Group Leader in Feltham Chronicle/Hounslow Chronicle
As I put pen to paper to compose this column, the preparations for the Liberal Democrat-led debate on April 24 are coming together.
Our chosen title is 'Giving Deaf People a Hearing' and with the permission of the mayor I will chair the debate while my colleague Cllr John Murphy will make the lead speech for our group.
He will, of course, be supported by most other councillors and most importantly by speakers from the wider Deaf community who we hope, and expect, will broaden our understanding of their rightful expectations in an inclusive, democratic society.
Two British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters will be present and some speakers will communicate through them, just as Deaf people present will be able to follow the proceedings in BSL.
The purpose of the evening is to raise awareness that for some 70,000 people in this country BSL is their first language. This is more people than speak some of the other recognised minority languages, such as Welsh or Scottish Gaelic.
We feel there is a very good case for the government to declare BSL a recognised language and that those of us who can hear have an obligation to provide the same level of support for those who cannot which we, rightly, give to those who speak Welsh, Urdu or Punjabi.
Why on earth do we treat Deaf citizens less favourably? We will argue on the night that in a civilised society we cannot go on denying people the basic human right to communicate. It is an outrage that we continue to treat hundreds of our fellow citizens in a discriminatory way. We hope to gain wide support from the council and request that representation be made to the government.