BSL Plan Introduction

University of Edinburgh BSL (British Sign Language) Plan 2024-2030 

As an official language of Scotland, BSL is vital to deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing people across the country. Moray House at the University of Edinburgh was one of the three institutions in the UK that confirmed BSL is a language, and the name ‘British Sign Language’ was first published from Moray House in 1975.  The University of Edinburgh has a significant role in maintaining the vitality of the language across the University and in our systems.  

Since the BSL (Scotland) Act [i] was legislated by the Scottish Parliament in 2015, the University of Edinburgh has remained a champion of BSL.  The first BSL Plan (2018-2024) [ii] was ambitious and expansive.  Over six years, it has been pivotal in supporting the increased visibility of BSL on campus, fostering new opportunities for students and staff to learn BSL, and improving the experience for deaf and deafblind students and staff.  Yet, we recognise there is still much to do.  The second BSL Plan (2024-2030) sets out our priorities for the next six years: Accessibility, Education, Employment, Health & Wellbeing, Culture and Data. These priorities were selected from the BSL National Plan (2023-2029)[iii] provided by the Scottish Government as aligning with the University of Edinburgh Strategy Vision 2030 [iv].

The actions identified for each of these six principles in the University of Edinburgh BSL Plan 2024-2030 were developed through consultations with diverse stakeholders within and beyond the University, including deaf, deafblind and hearing students, staff, members of the local Deaf and Deafblind community and broader UK Deaf and Deafblind community, and other interested individuals. Through nearly 160 responses from a hybrid consultation event and an online survey, we gathered invaluable insights that have guided the formulation of our principles and actions here.  The order of these actions reflects the views of deaf BSL users and other stakeholders who responded to the consultation. They reflect what people told us they want the University of Edinburgh to do.