Carrie Laws explains why D/deaf awareness training should be considered a critical issue for the legal sector
- It is estimated there are 8.7 million people with hearing loss in the UK but our legal system does not offer appropriate support to these clients and service users.
- A general lack of awareness, such as not recognising BSL as a first language, or the regional dialects which exist within BSL, all contribute to barriers to justice.
Much has been made of the first D/deaf jurors who were given BSL (British Sign Language) interpreter support to perform their civic duty. These jurors had three interpreters who rotated every 20 minutes to assist them. They also received the full support of the judge and HM Courts and Tribunals Service staff during their service.
This is indeed a milestone, and great news. But to me it highlights the issue of how our legal system in general is still not offering anything like appropriate support to clients and service users with hearing loss.
