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Chapter three: Deaf BSL users in Scotland

Late acquisition of BSL

3.1 The sample of people who have been interviewed represent Deaf people aged 18 to 75 years in Scotland today. Forty-eight percent of the group learned BSL at the usual age for language learning ie before 5 years old. This finding matches what we know about the Deaf population in Europe - more than half are late learners of their preferred language. This is likely to affect the way in which the language is used and internalised. More than 10% learned to sign after they had left school and nearly a quarter learned to sign after the age of 10 years. There are some age differences, with the 46-60 year olds being more likely to learn before 5 years old (they would have entered school from 1948 to 1962).

3.2 Older Deaf were much more likely to have gone to a Deaf school and this is consistent with social policies relating to the Deaf community. Older people with a minor hearing loss were more likely to have been sent to a boarding school than they would be today - in fact, it would be very unusual today. Older Deaf people are then more likely to have been introduced to Deaf culture at an early age. The shift towards mainstreaming policies in education is clearly visible in the sample. The largest group 48% said that they learned at school while a significant group of 26% said they learned from their Deaf parents or relatives. This latter figure is higher than would be expected for the Deaf community as a whole - where it would be around 12-15%. This might reflect the greater involvement of this group in the Deaf clubs where the interviews took place.

3.3 Nine percent claimed to learn BSL from their hearing families. If one thinks of the hearing community, such a figure is extremely low. The most appropriate language learning takes place at home for hearing people. As a result, Deaf children have very different experiences of interaction and acquisition of knowledge, to those of hearing children.

Variations in use of interpreters

3.4 Use of interpreters was examined in a list of 13 scenarios. Based on extent of use, a composite variable was created and analysis carried out on this new measure.

3.5 Most use of interpreters is made by the group aged 30-45 years, followed by the younger group (Figure 3.1). This is consistent with the fact that interpreter provision is relatively recent (last 15 years) and that older people have less statutory interaction with hearing people. Men are no more likely to use interpreters than women.

3.6 Extent of provision is variable by region and the overall figures for use of interpreters are lower than one might imagine, with many people almost never using interpreters at all. People in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Inverness are less likely to have used interpreters; Glasgow and then Kirkcaldy are more likely to have used interpreters. There is no overall effect of where the person lives in terms of city, town or village in regard to the extent of use of interpreters - although again the trend is towards less use in villages. There are no interpreters in Lewis or Shetland.

3.7 Professional or office staff are much more likely to have used interpreters than the others (Figure 3.2) and this is true even if we take into account the effect of age.

3.8 Use of interpreters can be shown according to each scenario (Table 3.1). In general, there is rather lower usage than one might expect - ie if Deaf people are users of a language that hearing people are unable to use, then each formal contact would require interpreting. Clearly this does not happen. Either Deaf people avoid these situations or find an informal means of communicating.

3.9 The other alternative is that there are simply not enough interpreters available.

Access to information sources

3.10 Older people are more likely to claim to read the newspaper every day than younger people (78% compared to 45%). However, readership in general, is claimed to be high. Previous studies tend to suggest that the extent of the meaningful reading will be limited. Men are more likely to read a newspaper everyday than women. In terms of the other media, 61% claimed to read a magazine at least once a month, 71% rarely or never read a book, 61% read the Deaf News at least once a month, 49% rarely or never use the Internet (26% use it every day) and younger people are much more likely to use it.

3.11 A very large proportion of Deaf people watch television with subtitles each day (96%) although it is unclear how much of the text is read for meaning. Conversely, 89% say they rarely or never watch television without subtitles implying that the subtitles are needed. Interestingly, 48% use Teletext everyday - the text information service on television - and there is a significant age effect - but this time with older people using it more than younger people.

3.12 A large group, 52%, watch See Hear the Deaf Magazine programme every week - this is higher than the national average although viewers have been increasing in number ( DST, See Hear Now, 2003). More women than men watch each week (58% vs 46%).

3.13 Very few people watch Sign Zone which is the BBC in-vision signing service on television - these are mostly re-run programmes with an in-vision signer /interpreter on screen. Deaf people tended to dislike these, saying that they did not understand the signing (mostly South of England) nor the "interference" with the action on screen. These programmes tend to go out late at night - although there are other programmes in the daytime on digital channels. Seventy-eight percent rarely or never watched Sign Zone with 19% claiming to watch at least once a week - these figures indicate more viewers than those obtained in a survey in England in 2003. The figures for viewing in-vision signing in television news ¹ are even poorer with 85% claiming that they rarely or never watch. Since these aspects are major components of the broadcasters' offerings to Deaf people the low viewing figures indicate a rejection of this format.

3.14 The interviews asked about the viewing of videotapes in sign language such as those distributed by British Deaf Association ( BDA) or by public organisations. The figures are poor - 90% claim rarely or never to have viewed information material in sign language on video. Since this has been a major request by Deaf people that signed videos be provided - and since the videos have been offered in many cases and by a range of organisations, it is surprising that Deaf people have never seen them. Either there are distribution problems, which is possible, or, more likely, they are not popular with Deaf people as they are an inflexible medium and usually contain information which is not needed at that moment in time.

Use of telecommunications and email

3.15 It was important to compare the use of various means of remote communication. Textphones which are widely available, were used everyday by 15% but there is variation by age - older people use less, but it is the 30-45 year old group who use more. Sixty-two percent rarely or never used a textphone with the figure rising to 94% of those aged over 60 years (Figure 3.3).

3.16 In contrast, 28% used a fax everyday with only 42% saying rarely or never (Figure 3.4). Interestingly the situation above reverses here with young people not keen to use fax - 75% say rarely or never.

3.17 The primary reason for the lack of use of fax is that 95% of young people use SMS or text messaging (mobile phone) everyday (Figure 3.5). Even the oldest group (33%) use text messaging although they also have the largest group who never use it - 50% never.

3.18 Thirty-two percent use email everyday with greater use among younger people - only 6% of the oldest group use email everyday (Figure 3.6).

3.19 A smaller percentage use the Internet - 26% everyday - and almost half, rarely or never 'surf the Web'. As expected, there is a major age effect with only 6% of the oldest group using the Internet and 89% rarely or never. Half of the youngest group use the Internet everyday. It would seem that there are major generational differences in the use of telecommunications and information systems.

3.20 Videophones (through which Deaf people can sign to each other at a distance) have been available for over 6 years in the UK. However, video communications have made little impact in the Scottish Deaf community - over 92% have rarely or never used a webcam and over 98% have never used a videophone. While this could be a significant help to the interpreting and sign language access situation in Scotland, it has not yet made its mark.

Use of Public Services

3.21 In the interview, the Deaf participant was asked how often they had recently used certain services - this response was summarised as often, sometimes, never (Table 3.2).

3.22 Only the Post Office is frequently used by more than half of Deaf people. Contact with the Council, Police, the library, and even with Social Services is lower than one might expect. The data in this table highlights some of the complexities as when it is cross-tabulated people who say they rarely used the services in the last year, were, apparently, users of interpreters. However, with doctors and hospital those who went most, used interpreters most.

3.23 It would seem that Deaf people do not come into contact with public services as often as might be assumed.

Summary - Deaf BSL Users in Scotland

3.24 From this set of quantitative data, we can see a simple pattern emerge of Deaf people in Scotland today. Most have learned their preferred language later than is usual for hearing people and it can be predicted that this will have effects in the use of the language within the community later in life. Since most Deaf people are born in hearing families and have hearing children, many of the gains in learning the language are not re-inforced from one generation to the next. The community does not pass on its well-developed language, but succeeding generations have to re-learn the language in less than ideal circumstances. Language uncertainty and variability in competence in the use of the language are likely outcomes which directly affect provision of services through the language. More understanding of Deaf people's use of BSL will be needed if meaningful access in BSL is to be provided.

3.25 Younger people, professionals and semi-professionals are more likely to have used interpreters. Older people are less likely to have used interpreters even though hospital appointments are a common location for interpreters. Overall, interpreters have been used much less than one might have imagined. This is likely to be a function of the lack of availability of trained interpreters.

3.26 Access to text based information is commonly reported through daily newspapers, through teletext services and through subtitle support to television programmes. Deaf people dislike in-vision signing and seldom watch hearing interpreters provision on television. In contrast, they are likely to watch the Deaf weekly magazine programme in BSL. They are unaware of the resource material with BSL signing prepared by public organisations.

3.27 Use of textphones is on the decline and videophones are almost unknown in Scotland. In their place, Deaf people use text messaging (more younger people) and fax (more older people). Use of the Internet is predictably more common among younger people, but overall, half of the population do not use the Internet.

3.28 These are general findings. The following chapters begin to look at the research questions through the eyes of the Deaf people themselves.

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