Welcome to Sign Language Week, an exciting national campaign led by the British Deaf Association (BDA)!
Sign Language Week is celebrated every year in March to commemorate the first time British Sign Language (BSL) was acknowledged as a language in its own right by the UK Government on 18 March 2003. This year, we are marking the 20th anniversary of that historic moment.
We are also celebrating an even bigger milestone! On 28 April 2022, British Sign Language was finally recognised in law as an indigenous language of Great Britain in the BSL Act (2022). This followed similarly ground-breaking legislation in Scotland – the BSL Act (Scotland) (2015).
This year’s Sign Language Week will run from 13 – 19 March 2023. The theme of this year’s campaign will be “Protecting BSL”.
Our aim for Sign Language Week is to celebrate and educate the British public about British Sign Language (BSL), to encourage more people to start learning our beautiful, unique, visual language, and to protect and preserve BSL for future generations to come.
Join us and become a #BSLAlly! Remember – all you need to do is #BeginWithAWave; and find out more about Sign Language Week here.