Most Brits want sign language on national curriculum
Ninety-five per cent of parents are in favour of having British Sign Language (BSL) added to the national school curriculum, a survey from Huawei has found
Seventy-four per cent of British parents have also admitted to not knowing the difficulties some deaf children experience when learning to read.
The study of 2,000 British parents, also found that 81% of people surveyed did not know how to sign in BSL or were only able to communicate in it very badly and wished they had been taught a few words when they were at school (82%). Whilst, 58% believe BSL is difficult to learn, there is an appetite to learn sign language. In fact, 98% think it would be a good idea for children to learn sign language to help them communicate with the deaf community.
The research comes as Huawei’s free mobile app, StorySign, which translates popular children’s books into sign language is now available on Apple iOS.
70% of parents also admitted to being reluctant to communicate with a deaf person due to feeling uncomfortable about not understanding them. The lack of knowledge of BSL in the UK can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness within the deaf community. This is particularly detrimental to young children who are profoundly deaf which makes learning to read much more difficult.
A new film has been produced to show just how much of a difference StorySign has made to one child’s life – 9 year old Tasneem (see HERE for video).
Damian Barry, Executive Director, British Deaf Association said “Access to sign language and education tools are vital when tackling deaf literacy issues in the UK and the British Deaf Association supports Huawei with its long-term vision to help open the world of books to deaf children through StorySign. It is encouraging that StorySign can help bring together families with Deaf children, like Tasneem and her family, to enjoy reading and story time together."
StorySign can now be downloaded for free from Google Play, the Huawei AppGallery and Apple App Store.
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