British Sign Language Plan for Edinburgh Napier University
Edinburgh Napier University has developed its plan for British Sign Language in line with the actions identified in the Scottish National Plan 2017-2023. The plan was launched in October 2018 and will form the basis of our work in this area until September 2024.
The plan is available for download (PDF) here.
About the plan
The Scottish Government passed the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act in 2015 and it has stated that “The Scottish Government wants to make Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work and visit”.
Scotland’s first British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan as required by the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 was published in October 2017. This has required us to publish our own institutional plan, which was published in October 2018, following a consultation period.
Working group
To create our plan we set up a working group. This was convened by our Director of Information Services and supported by the Head of Student Wellbeing and Inclusion. Members of the group came from across the University and our Student Association, and included staff representing key University services as well as academic colleagues. We also had great help from Deaf Action who provided feedback and support. Their Participation Officer also joined our working group.
This working group commenced its work in 2018 and, following a consultation period, produced the Edinburgh Napier University British Sign Language. The full plan was published in October 2018.
You can view the plan here.
Summary of Plan’s Primary Goals
Our Primary Goals are to:
- adopt an informed, participative and institution-wide approach to implementing our plan;
- build on and develop our existing approaches in support of BSL users – all prospective and current students and staff;
- improve and diversify our methods of communicating with BSL users;
- increase and improve access to information, advice and guidance for BSL users;
- and contribute to national plan objectives where we identify synergies with our research and teaching.
The University’s Inclusion Committee will take an oversight role and ensure our plan is implemented. It will receive annual updates and provide feedback on our progress as we deliver the plan. Responsibility for the on-going delivery of the plan will be assumed by a BSL local plan delivery group.
At Edinburgh Napier we have extensive experience of supporting staff and students who disclose a disability and this includes those who apply to study here from the Deaf community. The production of this plan has assisted us to reflect further on what we need to do across the University to continue to develop our capacity to deliver inclusive approaches to learning and teaching and to meet the needs of BSL users.
Contact Us
To speak to a member of staff about the plan, please contact our designated lead officer:
Mark Wilkinson, Head of Student Wellbeing and Inclusion:
Contact address:
Edinburgh Napier University
Sighthill Campus
9 Sighthill Court
Edinburgh
EH11 4BN
Email: m.wilkinson@napier.ac.uk
BSL users can also contact us via contact SCOTLAND-BSL, the online British Sign Language interpreting service.
Find out more on the contactSCOTLAND website.