Everything you need to know about the “Where Is The Interpreter” campaign

The hashtag #whereistheinterpreter has been trending for a year now, so if you spend a lot of time on social media or within the deaf community, you’ve probably seen it somewhere.

But for those of you who have never seen it before, you’re probably wondering what’s going on.

We explain everything you need to know about the campaign in this short article, from how it started to how it’s going.

What is the campaign?

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the life of everyone in the country, but for those with difficulty hearing, things have been immeasurably harder.

Information on the pandemic and what to do in response to it was readily available via TV ads and Government press conferences, but not in Sign Language.

This left tens of thousands of people at a disadvantage, prompting one woman to take a stand.

Lynn Stewart-Taylor originally started the #whereistheinterpreter campaign on her Twitter handle @jerseysnail.

The aim was to convince the Prime Minister’s office to include a BSL interpreter in all televised national addresses during the pandemic.

Lynn explains her intentions on the Hear Me Out website in this excellent podcast.

The Government’s response

Some news agencies like the BBC offer a BSL interpreter for important Government briefings, but these are on their own initiative. The Government itself doesn’t provide one, which frankly, is disgraceful.

In fact for the first 9 briefings of the crisis which were so very critical, there was no BSL Interpreting at all!

Months of campaigning took place, including a 200 mile trek to bring attention to the plight, and Lynn herself delivering over one thousand letters to the Prime Minister demanding that a BSL interpreter be “live and on platform” at such broadcasts.

Unfortunately, the Government and Boris Johnson were so resistant to the idea, that a legal challenge was brought to the high court, trying to force Downing Street to have a BSL interpreter at the press conferences.

Latest developments

Last month the Government asked the High Court to reject a judicial review over #WhereIsTheInterpreter, claiming that it is “unarguable” under the Equality Act and “serves no practical purpose”.

Despite not conducting an Equality Impact Assessment for its daily coronavirus briefings, the Government still insists the briefings are fair and accessible to everyone.

Their bid to stop the court case failed however, when earlier this month a High Court judge granted permission for the judicial review to go ahead.

No date has been set yet for the review, but we will be keeping an eye on developments and be sure to follow up in a future blog post!

The need for a BSL Interpreter

If you would like to know more about the campaign, then you can find their website here, their Facebook page here.

The money for the legal challenge is being raised through a Crowdfunding campaign which you can donate to by clicking here.

If you need a BSL interpreter, then please don’t hesitate to contact us today.

We are founded and run by deaf people who know first-hand the ease of access and benefits to business, that proper BSL interpreting provides.

Our core team at 121 Captions not only includes British Sign Language interpreters, but court reporters and captioners, professional lip readers, certified lipreading teachers, and deaf awareness trainers.