Every day in the UK, hundreds of thousands of the population communicate with British Sign Language (BSL). There are roughly 150,000 deaf people in the UK that use BSL, and their extended family and friends will also use this form of communication. How is it different from sign language, though, and what is the history behind BSL? Continue reading to find out the answer to ‘what is British Sign Language?’.
What is sign language and how is it different to British Sign Language?
Sign language is a visual means of communicating by using gestures, body language and facial expressions. Sign language is used mainly by the Deaf community or people who have hearing impairments. Within Britain, however, the most common form of sign language is British Sign Language.
There is a slight difference between the two, because BSL has its own grammatical structure and syntax. As a language, it is not dependent or strongly related to spoken English either.
Is sign language a worldwide language?
It is common among people who have no hearing impairments to believe that sign language is a universally-spoken language. However, this is not true. Due to the isolated nature of sign language, there is significant variation from city to city in Britain, which is known as regional variation. This can be thought of as being similar to regional accents in spoken language.
Other countries also have their own sign language.
History of British Sign Language
Although the history of British Sign Language is not well documented, it is thought that the language was first established around the 18th century. Towns in Britain grew to be so large that greater numbers of deaf people were close enough to form their own communities.
When deaf schools were formally opened in the 19th century, BSL became an established tool of communication. However, it wasn’t until 2003 that the UK government finally recognised British Sign Language as an official minority language. A big campaign led to increased funding for the needs of deaf people and helped to raise awareness of the language.
The schools that were opened for the Deaf community opened independently in different regions. There was a lot of communication between the schools and teachers often travelled between them. However, there was no central training on BSL. This lack of centralised training for the language as a whole led to the creation of regional variations in British Sign Language.
Seashell’s school for deaf children
Seashell Trust has a long history with the Deaf community, dating back to when our first school opened. In June 1823, at Manchester’s Corn Exchange, Robert Philips and William Bateman opened their school for deaf children in rented premises in Salford.
Originally, eight girls and six boys were given places funded entirely by the public. Within four years demand had grown and a purpose-built school was needed.
Following the end of the second World War, the school was moved to Cheadle Hulme which saw students move into new accommodation. At that time, increasing numbers of deaf children with additional needs, whose needs could not be met elsewhere, joined the school.
Local authorities began including deaf children in mainstream provision and a provision for students with additional needs was opened in 1972. In 1979, the school decided to specialise only in those pupils with additional and complex learning difficulties.
The Royal School for the Deaf, as Seashell was then known, became a school for children and young people whose needs could not be met in mainstream educational environments.
In order to reflect the changing nature of their setting, Seashell began to use the name ‘Royal School for the Deaf and Communication Disorders’ and focused on developing communication skills for people with a variety of sensory impairments and learning disabilities.
In 2008, Seashell Trust was chosen as the new name for the charity to honour its history as a school for deaf children. The name was inspired by the conch shell, which resembles the shape of the cochlear or inner ear.
Today, young people with hearing impairments represent a significant proportion of Seashell’s student body. All of whom have additional complex needs such as CHARGE syndrome, autism and severe or profound learning disabilities.
Contact Seashell
If you’d like to find out more about what Seashell does, and how we could help you, don’t hesitate to contact us on 0161 610 0100 or email us at info@seashelltrust.org.uk.
