Matt Vickers

I have not learned any BSL to any competent level, but I promise I will endeavour to do so before next year’s debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) on securing this very important debate. I want to celebrate the incredible contributions of the deaf community and BSL users across the United Kingdom. BSL is not just a language; it is a vital means of communication that connects people to their families, their communities and essential services. I was recently invited to visit MeSign by Steven Francis, who is a deaf person, a teacher of BSL and an incredible advocate for his community. I also got to meet Michelle Teasdale, who was born to deaf parents and founded MeSign, which brings together the deaf community. The pair, and their amazing team at MeSign, hold events that allow deaf people from across Thornaby and further afield to come together. Their amazing organisation tackles isolation and allows deaf people to share the challenges and difficulties they might be facing. They helped me to understand that for deaf people, written English is in no way a direct equivalent to BSL. The barriers and challenges created by deafness mean that reading written English, particularly when jargon-riddled or technical, can be difficult for many. BSL is their first language. It is vital that public services make themselves accessible to all. All too often, we see that there is investment in translators for those speaking foreign languages, but having access to translation for BSL is a postcode lottery. That is not acceptable, and more must be done. Steve and Michelle told me that my local authority contact centres, many GPs and many local employment services fail to offer BSL interpretation and are not as accessible as in other places. The reality is that technology means that it would be as simple as having an iPad and access to a translation service. People who want to sort out everyday issues such as council tax bills, or to understand changes to bin collections, are left isolated and frustrated. They lose their independence and have to rely on family and friends to help them. The worst and most heartbreaking example that Steve and Michelle shared with me is about deaf people who use health services having to rely on family members to interpret what they are being told—imagine someone having to interpret a diagnosis for something like cancer to their deaf parents. That is completely unacceptable, and it cannot go on. Huge progress has been made, but we need to go a lot further. We need to ensure that all public services are accessible and offer BSL interpretation. I will continue to push my local service providers to raise their standards. I welcome today’s debate, as it seeks to push this issue up the agenda.