I am sure many are going to think this is unrelated however its because of the use of a particular term which many of us have objections to its use. And I debated for two days whether to write a response... But I must say I was saddened to see that particular word used here (which I don't want to repeat) because in a nutshell it is why so many of us are marginalised, discriminated, excluded, shut down. The problem is speech has inherent value. Anyone with less doesn't have that value. And that in a sense is why a lot of people use that word in particular (not just that one there is a whole lexicon that discriminates against us) and thus it reinforces the notion its only hearing + speech which have any credible validity and whose citizens are 'authorised' to be fully participant members of society....
Many of us have tried to request that this word not be used because it is discriminatory. However so many use it - even leading politicians, lawmakers, celebrities, government officials, journalists, bloggers vloggers, all use it without care or ado and when we object we are ignored. There's a whole lexicon of these negative words in use. If it was some sort of thing said against Blacks or some other minority there would be outrage and the woke brigade would be out in force - but the irony is all those groups speak anyway and its no surprise they shout out quick when something untoward is practiced. We don't have that means or opportunity. What is worse is we are shut down excluded, kept out of the way. No one cares and what is perhaps even worse is society knows we cant fight back, because, after all, one NEEDS a voice to even make any progress....
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On a matter of different note I was interested in the notion within this thread that BSL isn't compatible with other languages thus these BSL screens at Euston (and soon to be used at other NR stations) are perhaps a waste of time because Deaf people from other countries cant use them. That is not the case really. Sign languages have very similar origins thus a lot of signs have identifiers and signifiers that are common - which means there is considerable understanding of others visual languages. There is also an international sign language and that too does help.
These BSL screens are appreciated by those like myself however when they first came out they were dreadful and staff had absolutely no clue what they were for or how to communicate with us. At the time these screens were introduced it was being implied that if we needed extra information then we should seek to get that from NR staff. I have videos of NR staff (including Euston station disability assistance staff) trying to dismiss us when we tried to test these screens and then follow up the information given out on these by asking staff for further information. That was something they couldn't even do. Not one of them could sign and not one of them even had any Deaf awareness and so on Those first months of these BSL screens were pretty useless - mainly because of NR staff lack of training and awareness. Even EUS tried to dismiss the concerns we had.
Sadly most rail staff still don't communicate (and a lot don't want to write either) - that's practically 99.9% of the transport system because it is aural/oral based and when it comes to those like us they'd rather ignore us or shut us out or worse - because of those entrenched attitudes.
At least in 2023 NR has now improved the output on these screens which can sign in BSL pretty much many (not all though) announcements according to the latest information and these screens can do additional information such as when trains are ready to board, last minute platform changes, delays, cancellations etc. They are not 100% but nevertheless it is amazing what has been achieved compared to when the screen were first introduced.
www.globalrailwayreview.com
