For this years’ Sign Language Week (13-19 March), we’ve partnered with Tinder, who are championing inclusivity by empowering single people to learn British Sign Language (BSL).
Tinder aims to promote inclusion through improved communication, raising awareness of the barriers the deaf community face whilst dating. The dating app has partnered with deaf twins Being Her to release a series of short videos to encourage singles to learn common dating phrases in BSL. By learning a few simple phrases, single people can be more confident in preparation for a date with a deaf BSL user.
Deaf Action is proud to partner with Tinder for this campaign to celebrate deafness, raise awareness and encourage change and positivity. For those looking to further expand their BSL skills, Deaf Action are running limited additional courses to support Tinder’s campaign which are available to sign up to here. The taster courses are the perfect starting point for learning BSL, running for a duration of six weeks and taught by qualified deaf tutors. And when you book your BSL course through us, the income is reinvested back into improving services for deaf people.
Philip Gerrard, CEO at Deaf Action said: “Being born into a deaf family and having BSL as my first language, I take pride in having such a strong cultural deaf identity. Every year, National Sign Language Week celebrates when BSL was recognised as a language in the UK. We’re thrilled to be working with Tinder on this opportunity to spread deaf awareness, which will make a real impact on the challenge’s deaf people face, particularly when it comes to dating.”
Sign Language Week was launched in 2003 by the British Deaf Association and is celebrated every year in March to commemorate the first time BSL was acknowledged as a language in its own right by the UK Government.
Deaf awareness tips
Want to improve your confidence? Here are a few helpful tips for communicating with deaf or hard of hearing people:
- Face the person you are speaking, don’t turn away
- Repeat yourself if necessary
- Keep your mouth visible
- Don’t speak too quickly or too slowly
- Speak one at a time, don’t talk over each other
- Write it down or use visual methods
- Be patient – if the person doesn’t understand you, don’t give up
- Learn British Sign Language!
Ready to learn BSL?
Learning BSL is an invaluable skill to help you communicate with deaf people, appreciate deaf culture and champion inclusion. Sign up here.