YOUR article, "Fabiani orders audit of Scots language" (The Herald, January 21), was interesting as the comments made by Linda Fabiani, the Culture Minister, also apply to British sign language (BSL) that, in Scotland, does not have the recognition or legal protection it deserves.
BSL was recognised as an official British language by the UK government in March 2003. In February 2007, the Scottish Executive published a consultation document - A Strategy for Scotland's Languages. In this document, BSL is described as "a real, full and living language that is part of our rich cultural heritage. It has its own vocabulary, structure and grammar, which is different from English, and like spoken languages in Scotland, has its own regional variations and dialects.
"Although there are no precise figures, it is estimated that BSL is the first or preferred language of approximately 6000 deaf people in Scotland. This figure does not take account of other users of BSL, such as hearing family members or other people in Scotland with a range of hearing loss who may have acquired BSL as an additional language."
For deaf people in Scotland, using English, Gaelic or Scots as a language is not an option as there is an element to a spoken language that is not available to deaf people, and that is hearing the spoken word. Therefore, BSL is the only option for communication. Although BSL users are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, this does not give BSL the status, respect and protection it deserves as a language in its own right.
To show its commitment to equality of indigenous languages in Scotland, the Scottish Council on Deafness and Sasli (Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters) are asking Ms Fabiani and the SNP government to give the same consideration to BSL as it does to Gaelic and is considering for the Scots language.
As Ms Fabiani states in your story: "What we have to recognise is that Gaelic and the Scots language are absolutely as valid as any other language in the world." So, too, is BSL and, as such, it should have the same recognition in legislation as Gaelic.
Lilian Lawson OBE, Helga McGilp, Directors, Scottish Council on Deafness, 93 Hope Street, Glasgow.
