Hansard

I am pleased to open the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives and also to speak as a member of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. I thank the committee and its clerks for putting together the report, and I also thank everyone who provided evidence to the committee as part of our inquiry, which we began early this year.

According to the latest Scottish census, there are just over 117,000 BSL users in Scotland, which amounts to 2 per cent of the population. In 2015, the Scottish Parliament passed the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, which has increased BSL visibility, improved access to services for BSL users and delivered greater empowerment of the deaf community.

However, as the evidence sessions and the report that we are debating today have made clear, some challenges remain. I will focus on two areas: first, the experience of deaf children when it comes to education; and secondly, issues relating to access to justice, particularly for deaf women who experience domestic abuse.

Deaf children face many barriers to things that their hearing peers take for granted. For instance, they often arrive at school without any well-developed language. That is unacceptable, which is why I am pleased that the committee agrees that deaf children should be able to learn their native language of BSL as early as possible. In the committee’s private sessions, we heard from deaf pupils and their parents, who said that, in many cases, pupils placed in mainstream schools faced difficulties because there were not enough BSL specialists. Teachers were not properly equipped to deal with those pupils’ needs. One of the pupils we spoke to said that it was extremely difficult to keep up with the work and, therefore, she failed her exams.

Many deaf pupils wish to study in mainstream schools, but the status quo is simply not acceptable. Too many deaf children are leaving school without the language and support that they need and are thus being set up to fail in later life. That is not just a future risk—it is happening now, and the consequences are lifelong. That is why I hope that the Scottish Government takes important steps to invest in deaf education, such as by increasing the number of qualified teachers.

I turn to the issue of deaf survivors of domestic abuse. Deaf women are more likely to experience domestic abuse than hearing women. I was shocked to hear in evidence to the committee that deaf women often assume that domestic abuse is a normal behaviour.

Such sentiments were also expressed at an event that I attended a couple of weeks ago, which was sponsored by East Dunbartonshire Women’s Aid and was entitled, “Empowering deaf women to report domestic abuse”. We were told that deaf women do not know the meaning of words such as “coercion” and “consent”. We were told that there are only three BSL-trained domestic abuse advocates in Scotland, all of whom are based in Dundee. I was told by representatives of East Dunbartonshire Women’s Aid that funding remains a major issue for many women’s aid organisations, which makes it extremely challenging to recruit independent domestic abuse advocates who are skilled in sign language interactions. The barriers are even bigger for deaf women in rural areas, who are forced to travel for hours to access such support.

Those women have also been let down by the justice system. While putting together my Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, I met a survivor who had slurred speech. When the police arrived at her home, her abuser told authorities that she was drunk, so she was not taken seriously. The police and women’s aid organisations do not always have interpreters, as many interpreters do not feel comfortable taking on such cases.

I clearly remember Lucy Clark, a deaf advocate and survivor of domestic abuse, telling the committee that finding an interpreter is always at the forefront of deaf women’s minds. Even when there is an interpreter, many deaf survivors feel more comfortable speaking to someone else whose first language is BSL. However, in order to have a better picture of the extent of the problem, we need proper data. That is why my bill would place a duty on public authorities and third sector organisations to collect data such as disability status. I am pleased that that element of my bill received strong support during the consultation process as well as during the evidence that was given to the Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee.

On Tuesday, I asked the Deputy First Minister whether she believed that better data collection would help us to better understand the full extent of the problem. I was pleased that she agreed, and it is now incumbent on the Scottish Government and MSPs of all parties to support my bill.

It is important to remember that Scotland’s deaf community is one of the most marginalised communities in our country. I hope that Parliament comes together in welcoming the report and agreeing to its recommendations. Although I was pleased to hear some warm words from the Deputy First Minister in her opening speech, I hope that they are followed by some concrete actions to make the lives of deaf people a little bit easier.