contactSCOTLAND is expanding

Scottish Council on Deafness is delighted that the contactSCOTLAND British Sign Language (BSL) service is being extended to cover community groups, voluntary organisations, charities, social enterprises, co-operatives and individual volunteers. The video interpreter relay service allows Deaf people across Scotland to call organisations directly using sign language on a video-call that is then relayed in spoken English on the phone. For around 6500 Deaf people whose first language is BSL in Scotland, significant communication barriers around access to even the most basic services which are only available in English, means many who cannot hear or read English are now empowered to access these while employing sign language. Much in the style of Sweden, which has had national Video Relay Services to assist Deaf people since 1997, or America which has had a national Video Relay Service for American Sign Language users since the early 2000s, we envisage that the contactSCOTLAND BSL service will greatly enhance services access for Deaf BSL users in Scotland. According to SNP MSP Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health, states: “The service is going from strength to strength. There has been a sustained increase in the uptake of the service with calls averaging 100 per week. Now it’s rolling out to the voluntary sector and breaking down even more of the barriers that some Deaf people face when trying to get in contact with their local services.’ The video relay service has allowed Deaf people in Scotland to contact many services from NHS 24 to Historic Scotland that were previously challenging for BSL users to access quickly. It is encouraging to observe the breaking down of communication barriers for the Deaf community in Scotland, alongside increased equality through greater linguistic access to public services for users of British Sign Language.