Why do we need sign language below a text based information board with zero audio output in victoria?

by trouble_architect

23 comments
  1. Because there are people who can read English but not understand BSL, and vice versa.

  2. Short answer – a lot of people who rely on BSL don’t have very good English reading skills. 

    Longer answer – BSL is not just English in sign form it’s it’s whole own language. For example in BSL the noun follows the adjective like it does in French so you say the car red instead of the red car. So when a capital D Deaf person (this tends to mean someone born Deaf who uses BSL as their first language as opposed to someone who has become deaf) learns to read it’s much harder because they’re learning to read a different language with different rules. If you add that complexity to the systemic failures they often suffer due to discrimination in the education system capital D Deaf people tend to have a much lower reading age than the general population. So a BSL interpretation is very useful for Deaf people even if the original material is written English not spoken/recorded.

  3. Adding on to what someone else said, this is a excellent ways for changes and new information to be recieved by a BSL user.

    So if there’s a change to a platform or a route, and there’s hundreds of words that you struggle to read on the board above, this is so much quicker and easier to get the information.

  4. Upvoted for a legitimate question that not many will know the answer to. Downvoted because of the rant flair.

  5. I love seeing BSL in the wild. It should be taught in every UK school as far as I’m concerned. Exposure is great

  6. Interaction with accessibility focus groups will have said it’s useful. Is it hurting you? No. So mind your business.

    But to give some kind of context, It’s very difficult to learn to read if you were born without hearing. The standard method of teaching it, if you remember primary school, is using phonetics…. so I’m sure you now see the issue. Sign language is MUCH easier to pick up!

  7. because BSL and English are different languages, and some deaf people can’t understand english.

  8. A Labour MP proposed a law that was adopted by the then Government, called the British Sign Language Bill. It became a law in April 2022 and it recognises BSL as a language in its own right and has certain measures that place a greater duty on public bodies and others to make things more accessible for BSL users. It may be that the switch to this style of signage at rail stations is a consequence of that.

  9. I am the only deaf person in my family & I was brought up orally + I was the only deaf person in my primary school. I then went to deaf boarding school & a lot of my peers came from families who are several generations deaf + BSL is their first language, not written or spoken English. This signed video is perfect for them.

    That’s Ahmed on the screen in OP’s pic, he is one of the presenters on the BBC series See Hear & a lovely guy.

  10. Without spinning back on the issue.

    What needs to be signed about:

    TRAIN TO: ORPINGTON

    PLATFORM: 3

    TIME: 13:27

    I don’t speak French, but I can work that out from a French train board. I can even do it in Russian.

  11. Think about when you go to wales and all the signs are dual language – this is a similar principle. BSL is a language in its own right, distinct from English, and this provides native BSL speakers with quicker and easier access to the information they need. This should absolutely be the norm, not an exception

  12. I mean let’s be honest, it is a bit performative, given how basic the information on the screen is.

  13. I think it’s for people who can’t hear who read BSL. Therefore don’t need sound

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