The SNP wants to make Scotland the best place in the world for British Sign Language (BSL) users to live, work and visit.
The SNP Scottish Government created the Deaf Sector Partnership to support early implementation of the BSL (Scotland) Act and set up the BSL National Advisory Group to represent the views of people with BSL as their first or preferred language.
The SNP Scottish Government worked with Deaf communities across Scotland to develop the BSL ‘National Plan 2017 to 2023’ which sets out actions to help ensure deaf and deafblind BSL users are fully involved in all aspects of daily and public life in Scotland.
If re-elected, we will provide additional funding to enable local authorities to offer free BSL tuition for deaf children from the age of five.
Additionally, we will continue with our Access to Elected Office Fund which offers financial assistance to disabled people contesting the Scottish Parliament and Local Authority elections.
Fiona Hyslop