Committee
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee 03 March 2026 [Draft]
03 Mar 2026 · S6 · Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Item of business
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Professor Napier
Watch on SPTV
That is an excellent question. It is a question that we have been battling with for some time in relation to access to public services in general. When we look at domestic abuse situations, it becomes even more specific, because of the extra vulnerabilities that people are experiencing.People often talk about the need to increase the number of interpreters. In Scotland, there are only approximately 60 qualified interpreters throughout the country at the moment. The majority of them are based in the central belt, between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth—that area is just about covered. However, in those more regional, rural areas, and down in the Borders—the further north you go and the further south you go—there are hardly any interpreters available at all. Therefore, one of the priorities would be not only training more interpreters and increasing the number so we can meet the demand, but ensuring that interpreters are available throughout the country and are spread out geographically.09:45I know that Police Scotland has been looking at developing its own in-house video remote interpreting service, which we think would go a long way, at least initially, in supporting contact in domestic abuse cases specifically and in supporting any police contact. Some research done on that first point of contact by Robert Skinner, who is one of the interpreters in the room today, showed that offering video interpreting for the initial contact would help to reduce a lot of stress, trauma and feelings of vulnerability, because people would understand what is happening. As Claire Houghton said, not knowing what is happening can exacerbate feelings of trauma. If someone knows that an interpreter has been booked and is on the way, but then has to wait for them, initial contact through video can go a long way to alleviating stress or distress before the face-to-face interpreter comes along.We must do more than increase the number of interpreters, because Scotland has a dearth of male interpreters. That is fine when they are working with men, for example in medical situations where we know we need to improve the service, but we must think about what is appropriate, which interpreter gets sent where and what sort of booking service is available, so that deaf women can express a preference about the kind of interpreter that they would like to have when they are experiencing a distressing situation such as domestic abuse.
In the same item of business
09:30
The Convener
SNP
Our second agenda item is a consideration of the findings of a joint research report on the perspectives of deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domesti...
Professor Jemina Napier (Heriot-Watt University)
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) I will start in sign language, because of my respect for Lucy as the deaf author and for the deaf wo...
Lucy Clark (LCC Scotland)
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) Our research focused on deaf parents. We found that their experience of emotional and physical abuse...
Professor Napier
Just to continue on that thread, the deaf women told us that they were experiencing in effect a double trauma because they have a lack of access to informati...
Dr Claire Houghton (University of Edinburgh)
I just want to talk a little bit about what deaf women have told us about being mothers. They were particularly worried about the unique impact of domestic a...
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) I really appreciate the Deputy First Minister mentioning how she was inspired by our recommendations...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you all very much. We will move on to questions. Jemina, you touched on this in your opening statement. Given the shortage of interpreters, what specif...
Professor Napier
That is an excellent question. It is a question that we have been battling with for some time in relation to access to public services in general. When we lo...
The Convener
SNP
I realise that you might not have the information to hand, but is the lack of interpreters due to the density of the population being in the central belt or ...
Professor Napier
It is actually a bit of both. We know that more deaf people live in the central belt than in other parts of Scotland. Heriot-Watt University has a four-year ...
The Convener
SNP
We move to questions from Maggie Chapman.
Maggie Chapman (North East Scotland) (Green)
Green
Good morning, and thank you for being with us today.I will pick up on a couple of points. Professor Napier, you spoke in your opening remarks about the Deaf ...
Professor Napier
That is a good question. I will begin before handing over to Lucy Clark, who has had a lot more involvement with that service.The Deaf Links and Women’s Aid ...
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) What we have to bear in mind is that deaf mothers come from a variety of backgrounds—from grass-root...
Maggie Chapman
Green
:You have talked about a victim/survivor perhaps being reticent about trusting or relying on a service because of past experience, and about the value of hav...
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) It is all about increasing BSL resources. It would be beneficial if each service received deaf aware...
Maggie Chapman
Green
:Thank you. That was really helpful. As somebody who previously worked in the Rape Crisis network, I know that we never talked about BSL or deaf culture. It ...
Dr Houghton
It is an important part of this, but it is really just one part. Mothers said that they received very little help in supporting their children through domest...
Maggie Chapman
Green
:The committee will reflect on your point about what we can do about families, whether it is the mother or the child, not trusting somebody else enough to te...
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language)We also have to think carefully about the next generations. We need to include BSL in education right...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you for that, Lucy. Some of the most disturbing evidence that you have presented relates to children being used as interpreters. When the police arrive...
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) I could not agree more.
The Convener
SNP
We will now move on to questions from Paul McLennan.
Paul McLennan (East Lothian) (SNP)
SNP
A lack of understanding of rights and consent is a risk factor for deaf women, and Lucy Clark has touched on the need for early education and awareness raisi...
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) I am sorry—a little bit more about what?
Paul McLennan
SNP
:A bit more about early education and awareness raising, particularly on the consent issue, because I think that that is really important.
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) I was surprised when I went to a workshop for the definiTAY project in Dundee, because all the women...
Paul McLennan
SNP
:What is the best way to tackle that situation? Is it through schools and through early education for women? Is it through organisations such as Deaf Action?...
Lucy Clark
(simultaneous interpretation from British Sign Language) I come back to our earlier point about the need for more deaf IDAAs, more deaf trainers, and more de...