Closed petition Make British Sign Language part of the curriculum from primary school onwards

Closed on 22 May 2016

There are currently 11 million people (or 1/6 of us) in the UK with some form of hearing loss. At least 50,000 people in the UK use BSL as their main language. BSL is a necessary form of communication for many people, and there should be a requirement for all to learn BSL from a young age.

BSL is important, as even the best lip readers catch less than half the words said to them. Moreover, the lack of BSL among the hearing population directly affects the opportunities available to anyone who is deaf. More worryingly, many children born deaf will struggle to communicate properly with parents, with only 1 in 10 hearing parents of deaf children learning sign language. If we made BSL common knowledge, even at a basic level, it would dramatically improve the life of many deaf people.