British Deaf Association
SIGN LANGUAGE WEEK The oldest recorded instance of gestural communication among Deaf people occurs in the Talmud. In his book, “Britain’s Deaf Heritage”, Peter Jackson speculates that the presence of sign languages among Australian aborigines, Kalahari Bush People and North American Plains Indians suggests This year’s Sign Language Week will run from that the use of sign language goes back to prehistoric times. 14 – 20 March 2022. The theme this year is “Brings Us Together”. British Sign Language BSL has been in use for hundreds of years. The first printed The aim of the campaign is to encourage account in the UK of its usage was recorded people of all ages across the UK to take up in John Bulwer’s “Chirologia – The National the challenge of learning some British Sign Language of the Hand” in 1644. Before that, Language for themselves and finding out in 1595 Richard Carew first recorded an more about the language and culture of the observation of Sign Language in use betwe 87,000 Deaf, Deaf blind and hard of hearing en two Deaf people, Edward Bone and John British people for whom BSL is their first or Kempe, in his Survey of Cornwall. Earlier still, preferred language. in the Parish book of St Martins’, Leicester, an account can be found of a wedding About British Sign Language conducted partly in Sign Language on 5th British Sign Language or BSL is the preferred February 1576. References to Sign language for thousands of Deaf people in the Language are also found in the Bible and in Greek and Roman writings. UK for whom English may be a second or third language (A total of 151,000 individuals in the UK who can use BSL - this figure does not include professional BSL users, Interpreters, Translators, etc unless they use BSL at home). Sign Language Week is celebrated each year in March to coincide with the anniversary of the recognition of British Sign Language by the UK Government in 2003. Sign Language Week is an initiative of the British Deaf Association.
Challenge yourself to spell your name in sign language by clicking the image above and download our PDF from British Deaf Association. For more information on Sign Language Sign languages are fully functional and Week please visit https://signlanguageweek. expressive languages; at the same time they org.uk/ differ profoundly from spoken languages. BSL is a visual-gestural language with a distinctive grammar using handshapes, facial expressions, gestures and body language to convey meaning. 44 Subscribe to Bristol Weekly Magazine at www.directlocalbristol/bristolonline
