With Aberdeen being the 3rd largest city in Scotland, census data shows that the city of Aberdeen has 563 people over the age of three who are users of British Sign Language (BSL) and it is a statutory requirement for us to have a Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP). To enable the vision, ‘a place where all people can prosper’. The BSL plan is to improve services and access to services for BSL users and improve the availability of BSL interpreters and Deafblind guide communicators.
We already have our in-house Interpretation and Translation Service to help provide British Sign Language interpreters for the council and its customers and transcription services which converts speech or audio into text or BSL video translation; however, there still is the need to promote ContactScotland which is a nationally funded BSL online interpreting video relay service.
To promote these services, you can…
- Raise awareness amongst colleagues, especially front-line employees across our organisation on knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture, language and service delivery
§ Promote ‘contactSCOTLAND-BSL’ which allows BSL users to contact public sector services and for these services to contact them
§ Learn new skills to provide a welcome experience, even it’s a simple Hello, Goodbye etc.
To learn skills, click on the options below…
North East Sensory Services (NESS) provide services to help people overcome the effects of serious sight and/or hearing loss access their website HERE, They also provide the following training:
Lip Reading classes Sign2Sign Club
DeafBlind Scotland offers a variety of services such as communication and linguistic access advice, advice navigating self-directed support, information and formatting services, welfare rights support, accredited training and a guide/communicator service.
Alternatively, watch some of these You Tube videos…
Learn Basic Greetings – Click HERE
How to sign the alphabet – Click HERE
12 Fun, Friendly Phrases in British Sign Language – Click HERE