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I鈥檓 fluent in British Sign Language, but people don鈥檛 realise it鈥檚 different from English and things can be difficult for me to understand.

Saleem is 22 years old and lives with his family in Blackburn. He鈥檚 profoundly deaf and is fluent in British Sign Language (BSL).

He鈥檚 currently unemployed, and plans to get some more training at college to help him find a job. He started a catering course last year but the interpreter they provided wasn鈥檛 fully qualified and didn鈥檛 have much experience. Saleem got behind and gave up.

He isn鈥檛 very confident about learning new things. He struggles with English because of the differences with BSL in grammar and vocabulary.

Devices and technology

Saleem has an Android tablet, and loves being able to sign to his friends on video chat. He鈥檚 sharing his family鈥檚 laptop until he can afford his own.

He also has an iPhone 5 that his brother gave him. He鈥檚 tried using it for video chat but it鈥檚 harder to see what people are saying as the screen鈥檚 quite small.

Goals and wishes

Saleem wants more people to know British Sign Language (BSL). His brother signs well and his parents know a bit, but they鈥檙e the only ones in his family who do.

He鈥檇 like captions (subtitles) to make sense - sometimes they鈥檙e rubbish and you don鈥檛 know what they mean.

Frustrations

When content doesn鈥檛 work well for him

It鈥檚 annoying for Saleem when captions just say things like 鈥榤usic playing鈥� and don鈥檛 have the song words. It鈥檚 also better when they have different colours to show who鈥檚 speaking.

If there are no captions, transcripts are ok instead - but Saleem finds it difficult to read large blocks of text.

Because his English isn鈥檛 great, if something isn鈥檛 easy to understand, he needs it in BSL. He also needs search engines to correct his spelling.

When there鈥檚 no alternative for deaf people

Saleem hates it when his mum has to make phone calls for him. He can鈥檛 use a phone and his minicom broke, so he has to be able to contact people by email, chat or text.

He can鈥檛 use intercoms - he has to say 鈥淚鈥檓 deaf, I can鈥檛 hear you鈥�, and he usually just follows someone else through the door.

Saleem usually has to enter his mobile number when he鈥檚 filling in a form, but there鈥檚 no space for him to say he prefers to get text messages to calls.

Making things better for Saleem

What to do	Further reading
Let people choose a way of contacting you that suits them best - and offer a BSL sign relay service for those who need it.	DWP services more accessible thanks to new British Sign Language pilot, press release on 51茶馆.
Provide communication support like BSL interpreters if you offer face-to-face appointments. Always ask people what works best for them.	Information on like interpreters.
Write in plain English and break up content with things like headings and lists. Use the 鈥榠nverted pyramid鈥� approach with the most important information at the top.	Structuring your content, guidance on 51茶馆.
Make sure video content has captions, and that the captions have been checked for clarity and accuracy. Have transcripts for audio content. Think about having a sign language version for people whose reading ability is limited.	, article by The Paciello Group.

More reading

You may find the following resources useful:

• 鈥楧esigning for users who are deaf and hard of hearing鈥� is one of a set of posters designed by the Home Office. You can

Statistics about hearing loss

11 million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing.

There are 151,000 BSL users in the UK.

Deaf people are more likely to:

• have poor mental health - up to 50%, compared to 25% for the general population
• be unemployed - 65% of working age deaf people are in employment, compared to 79% of the general population