13 - 19 March 2023
Sign Language Week
Sign Language Week is an initiative of the British Deaf Association (BDA). Sign Language Week is celebrated each year in March to commemorate the first time British Sign Language (BSL) was acknowledged as a language in its own right by the UK Parliament on 18 March 2003
This year, we are marking the 20th anniversary of that historic moment! We are also celebrating an even bigger milestone. On 28 April 2022, British Sign Language was finally recognised in law as an indigenous language of Great Britain in the BSL Act (2022). This followed legislation in Scotland - the BSL Act (Scotland) 2015.
This year’s Sign Language Week runs from 13 – 19 March 2023. The theme of this year’s campaign will be “Protecting BSL”. It is is the BDA’s mission to protect, preserve and promote our beautiful, unique, visual language for future generations to come.
# Protect Promote Preserve BSL
BSL will be available soon
We're still making preparations for this year's Sign Language Week and will update the website regularly in the run-up to March. Thank you for your patience.
Sign up TO TAKE PART IN SIGN LANGUAGE WEEK!
BE PART OF #SLWEEK2023
SCHOOLS - SIGN UP TO TAKE PART IN A FREE BSL LESSON!
We are working with the awarding body Signature to deliver the UK’s largest British Sign Language lesson online, with primary schools across the UK all learning BSL at the same time!
The lesson will give children the opportunity to learn BSL from a native Deaf teacher, BSL See Hear presenter Yvonne Cobb, and find out more about the British Deaf community.
If you are a primary school and would like to sign up to take part in the lesson, please complete an application form and we will send you more information.
# PROTECT PRESERVE PROMOTE
BRITISH
SIGN
LANGUAGE
BE PART OF #SLWEEK2023
SCHOOLS - SIGN UP TO TAKE PART IN A FREE BSL LESSON!
We are working with the awarding body Signature to deliver the UK’s largest British Sign Language lesson online, with primary schools across the UK all learning BSL at the same time!
The lesson will give children the opportunity to learn BSL from a native Deaf teacher, BSL See Hear presenter Yvonne Cobb, and find out more about the British Deaf community.
If you are a primary school and would like to sign up to take part in the lesson, please complete an application form and we will send you more information.
GETTING INVOLVED
WHAT IS BSL: UNDERSTANDING OUR LANGUAGE
Setting the standard for a bsl gcse
BRITISH DEAF ASSOCIATION
GETTING INVOLVED
BRITISH DEAF ASSOCIATION
Daily Lessons
Each day this week, we will publish a new BSL lesson, as well as daily facts about BSL, and videos from this year's SLW Ambassadors..
OUR Ambassadors
SIGN LANGUAGE WEEK 2023
ABOUT
The British Deaf Association (BDA) launched Sign Language Week in March 2003 following the Government’s initial acknowledgment of British Sign Language (BSL) as a language in its own right.
At that time however, BSL did not receive recognition or protection in law. After decades of campaigning for legal recognition, the BDA launched the successful BSL Act Now! campaign during Sign Language Week 2021. Just over a year later, Parliament passed the BSL Act (2022) which recognised British Sign Language as an indigenous language of Great Britain. It was a truly historic moment.
The BSL Act Now! campaign was led by the BDA, working collaboratively with other national deaf organisations such as RNID, the Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD), Signature, Institute of British Sign Language (iBSL), SignHealth, the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS), National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People (NRCPD), and Black Deaf UK. These organisations represent the incredible diversity of the Deaf community in the UK.
The BSL Act 2022 came into force on 28 June 2022. However, implementation of the Act has yet to begin. A BSL Advisory Board, tasked with providing personal and expert advice to the government on the implementation of the Act, is now being formed. Its Co-Chair is Craig Crowley MBE.
Awareness of and appreciation for British Sign Language and the Deaf community is growing year upon year, but some important misunderstandings remain. The BDA’s mission is to protect, preserve and promote BSL and encourage more people across the UK to learn about our beautiful, unique, visual language – one of the indigenous languages of Great Britain.
BSL will be available soon
We're still making preparations for this year's Sign Language Week and will update the website regularly in the run-up to March. Thank you for your patience.