Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been accused of excluding the deaf community by not having a sign language interpreter with him when he called the General Election.
According to the hearing charity RNID, Downing Street pledged to have British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters on hand for big announcements from spring 2024.
However, there was no interpreter in sight when Mr Sunak made his announcement outside Number 10 on Wednesday afternoon.
Where’s the British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter @10DowningStreet?
Calling a #GeneralElection is one of the biggest moves our country can make – deaf people deserve to have that information at the same time as everyone else. This is not good enough! (1/2)
— RNID (@RNID) May 22, 2024
The charity wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Where’s the British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter @10DowningStreet?
“Calling a General Election is one of the biggest moves our country can make – deaf people deserve to have that information at the same time as everyone else. This is not good enough!
“Let this be the last time British Sign Language (BSL) users are left behind – we call on all candidates to make this the most accessible General Election ever.”
As part of the Government’s disability action plan, officials said they would “make government publications and communications more accessible”.
This includes a pledge that “Number 10 Downing Street will work to provide in-situ BSL interpretation for all major press conferences and briefings from spring 2024 onwards.”
Michael Quinlan, advocacy manager at RNID, said: “Calling a General Election is one of the biggest moves our country can make.
“It’s totally unacceptable that after months of promises, no British Sign Language interpreter was there for this major national announcement.
“It means that deaf people like me simply don’t have access to this information at the same time as everyone else.
“In February, the Government committed that they would work to provide live in-person BSL interpretation for all major press conferences and briefings from spring 2024.
“We are very much in spring and it is not happening. Deaf BSL users deserve to have that information at the same time as everyone else. This is not good enough.
“Let this be the last time BSL users are left behind. Over the next six weeks we will see campaigning from all parties, and we call on the candidates to ensure their materials are accessible through the use of BSL and captions.”
