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Summary
1 This study was designed to assess the extent of access
to public services in sign language (
BSL) by Deaf people. Eighty-nine people
selected from 142 who completed preliminary interviews,
were interviewed in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen,
Inverness, Kirkcaldy, Stornoway and Lerwick. A Deaf
researcher completed a video-recorded interview and
returned later for a group interview. All data was analysed
in
BSL by Deaf researchers.
Extent of access to public services using
BSL
2 The study found that that Deaf people have very
limited access to public services in
BSL and consequently appear to have very
low levels of expectation in this regard. The research
found no examples of health care, emergency services, or
council provision, which Deaf people use, which were
delivered in
BSL. Deaf respondents described feelings
of surprise and relief when on rare occasions, they found
staff who could sign. The research found that Deaf people
on
Lewis and
Shetland were particularly isolated and
unable to access public services.
BSL users' experiences in using
BSL with public service
providers
3 The experience of hearing public services described by
Deaf people is one where they are left feeling frustrated,
annoyed and embarrassed. Respondents reported poor Deaf
awareness and described situations where staff dealt with
other people first, tried to talk to other family members
instead of them and struggled to provide pen and paper to
allow them to write things down. Deaf people consider many
of the problems to be the results of 'bad attitude' in
hearing people, where people do not care or are resistant
to changes in their routine. Deaf people often withdrew
from such situations and did not return.
4 Contacts with the
Health Service were considered the most
stressful. Staff commonly failed to alert Deaf people in a
waiting room when it was their turn and medical problems
were often not explained properly because staff were unable
to write things down or refused to do so. When Deaf people
brought an intermediary (family member or friend), they
described a loss of independence and privacy. Contact with
police was similarly problematic.
Interpreters were not provided and the police would often
try to question children rather than the Deaf adult. Being
Asian
and Deaf creates further problems in this respect
where these Deaf people claim that they are further
marginalised by service providers because of race.
Alternatives when
BSL is not available, which are
useful
5 Deaf people felt that they were expected to adapt
while hearing people continued to interact as they had
always done. Deaf people felt they were expected to be able
to lip-read, to speak, to write and to read public service
communications. They considered this expectation
unreasonable.
6
Automatic services and machines were
universally disliked by Deaf people because they default to
speech intercoms whenever there are any problems. Some
distance communication options were used.
Use of fax is established, although Deaf
people are more comfortable in faxing other Deaf people
than using it for contact with the hearing community
(because of their lower literacy level).
Text messaging (mobile phones) was popular
because of its immediacy, ease of use and ubiquity. In
contrast, the use of
textphones seems to have declined greatly
in Scotland.
Alternative means of
BSL access to public
services
7 Interpreters were most commonly used for health, work
and education related situations and were seen as vital in
employment and educational settings. Deaf people reported
concerns about privacy and confidentiality when using
interpreters. This was a particular problem for people who
frequently used interpreters in work settings, who then did
not want to use the same interpreters for sensitive or
personal situations. The cost of interpreters was also
raised as an issue with Deaf people sometimes obliged to
pay for interpreters themselves, in work and other
situations.
8 While some respondents were happy with interpreting
support others reported poor performance amongst
interpreters, sometimes because the interpreter was not
fully qualified. The most common theme was the difficulty
in finding an interpreter. This lack of interpreters often
leads Deaf people, their employers and public services to
use informal, unqualified intermediaries (family, friends
and workmates). This removes the accountability, the need
for confidentiality and professional behaviour and leaves
the Deaf person exposed to poor quality of information of
which the hearing person may be unaware. Deaf people report
great anxiety at the financial cost, the loss of
independence in this situation of interpretation and the
intrusion of intermediaries into their personal lives at
points of vulnerability.
9 Provision of information in
BSL on
television, on
video, on
the Internet and through
mobile devices are aspirations of the Deaf
community. Deaf people wanted to see more public service
on-line
BSL information.
Active interaction potentially through the
use of
videophones to connect Deaf people to each
other was seen as important even though very few Deaf
people in Scotland had experienced this yet. The potential
for mobile videophones was also mentioned.
10 However, Deaf people considered that the ideal
solution was for more
hearing people to learn to sign
(properly). It was proposed that public services should
have a number of people trained at recognised courses and
schools should have a curriculum for
BSL, which could then be called upon
later in life when in contact with Deaf people.
C onclusion
11 Deaf people have very limited access to public
services in
BSL. No public services are currently
provided in
BSL and the use of interpreters is
limited, due to insufficient numbers of interpreters, the
cost of interpreters and concerns about privacy. Few
examples of any sort of good practice were found. Attempts
at communication commonly left Deaf people feeling
frustrated, annoyed and embarrassed and they often withdrew
from such situations. One Deaf participant responded
that:
"Deaf people are more accepting and used to the
problems which they face everyday. They never complain,
compared to hearing people. If one hearing person was
to swap places with me, the person would not cope and
would become totally stressed. We are born with it. We
do get stressed and frustrated but do not keep a note
of these, so do not remember them. I think Deaf people
are stronger than hearing people. We survive in the
hard world of hearing people."
12 Actions to be considered are the extension of
training of hearing people in
BSL, increase in training and provision
of interpreters, use of
BSL materials on video, on television
and on-line to disseminate public service information and
rapid progress to exploit video telecommunications to allow
interaction at a distance. Current use of text messaging
can be extended for alerting and making arrangements by
public service providers.
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