On 17th March 2021, a brief from the Welsh Government appeared on BBC Wales at roughly 12:35pm. I took this video myself (hence the shake) on my iPhone.
I removed the audio on the video when I edited it on my computer as an example. It is impossible to understand the brief without audio, and as someone who doesn’t know BSL, I don’t know what’s going on in this brief at all. Thankfully, for deaf or hard of hearing people who do know BSL, they can understand what’s being said.
Imagine you are a deaf person, with no hearing ability whatsoever. You are concerned about a deadly disease and you need the latest information to stay safe. You switch on the news to hear the daily update and the channel cannot provide accurately timed and accurately transcribed subtitles, and they did not provide an interpreter – you’re left in the dark entirely.
To play devil’s advocate, one could say that the daily update isn’t the only place to receive this information, and deaf people could easily read a newspaper, read it on the .gov website or the other reputable sources. Well, yes, but does that make it fair?
flyff December 27, 2021
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ROBYN MAKIN January 26, 2022 — Post Author
Hi, thanks for your comment and for your question. That’s fine, please go ahead.