British Sign Language (BSL) is the prime or preferred language of many Deaf people in the UK. There are an estimated 151,000 users, including adults and children, in the UK today and over half of this figure use BSL as their preferred communication method.
BSL is a rich, visual, gestural language that encompasses the use of the hands, face, facial expression and upper body. It has its own unique grammatical structure and syntax which is not connected to English.
In April 2022, a historic milestone was reached for the Deaf Community, when BSL was officially recognised, at last, as a language, within England, Scotland and Wales.
*BSL has been in use for hundreds of years. The first printed account in the UK of its usage was recorded in John Bulwer’s “Chirologia – The National Language of the Hand” in 1644. Before that, in 1595 Richard Carew first recorded an observation of Sign Language in use between two Deaf people, Edward Bone and John Kempe, in his Survey of Cornwall. Earlier still, in the Parish book of St Martins’, Leicester, an account can be found of a wedding conducted partly in Sign Language on 5 February 1576. References to Sign Language are also found in the Bible and in Greek and Roman writings.
*Extract taken from British Deaf Association website