Campaigners for deaf and hearing-impaired people have started legal proceedings against the government over a lack of sign language interpreters at its daily coronavirus briefings.
Users of British Sign Language (BSL) say they have been discriminated against because critical information is not conveyed to them.
A campaign which initially started on Twitter as #WhereIsTheInterpreter? has now developed into a class action legal case.
The daily press briefings provide the latest information from the UK government in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The BBC reported that Lynn Stewart-Taylor first tweeted #WhereIsTheInterpreter? on 9 March when she watched one of the briefings and found there was no interpreter, even though she could sense “critical information” was being given.
Lynne classes BSL as her first language and although she was taught to speak English at school she has an “average reading age of seven years old”.
She told the BBC the lack of a BSL interpreter made her feel “very panicked and worried” and she added: “Trying to decipher the information [from subtitles] is like trying to work out something written in a foreign language.”
Legal firm, Fry Law has started judicial review proceedings and claims the lack of interpreters breaches the Equality Act 2010 which states that discrimination or unfair treatment on the basis of certain characteristics – such as being deaf – is against the law.
Pursuing the judicial review, however, is reliant on the campaigners raising £15,000 through crowdfunding by 6 May, to ensure that if they lose they can cover the government’s legal fees.
Chris Fry, from the legal firm, says: “It’s just disappointing they’re [the government] doing the bare minimum.”
He argues that even though interpreters are available on the BBC News Channel for some briefings, when clips are later replayed they do not feature an interpreter. It also puts the onus on the deaf person to seek out the News Channel when the information is of national importance.
In a statement, Downing Street said: “We have established British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation at the daily No. 10 press conference via the BBC News Channel and iPlayer…and are working to ensure greater replication of this signed interpretation across a wider range of media channels.”
In Scotland, interpreters stand 2m behind the minister during briefings because BSL is formally recognised as a language. Wales too has opted to provide interpreters on stage, even though BSL is not formally recognised there, while Northern Ireland relies on BBC inserts for its briefings.
