Domestic Abuse resources now available in British Sign Language
Police Scotland has developed accessible resources to support British Sign Language (BSL) communities looking for information on domestic abuse, how to recognise the behaviours and how to report it.
Valuable and meaningful feedback was gathered from the public as part of the development of Police Scotland’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy.
Contributors from deaf communities explained that it was vital that BSL communities have access to information in their first language as they often felt isolated when seeking advice on domestic abuse and reporting it.
This feedback has specifically influenced how Police Scotland communicates vitally important information to our audiences, particularly BSL communities.
In partnership with Heriot Watt University, through the Justisigns2 and SILENT HARM projects, Police Scotland’s Domestic Abuse Coordination Unit (DACU), together with the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Unit have created a series of videos on domestic abuse, in BSL.
There are 13 videos available, which provide translations of existing written questions and answers that currently feature on the Police Scotland website. They include questions such as, "what is domestic abuse" and "what can I do if this is happening to me?"
The aim of these videos is to improve accessibility of this information for BSL communities looking to contact the police for support and guidance for domestic abuse.
Professor Jemina Napier of Heriot Watt University said: “The translation of the videos was made possible through generous support from the Heriot-Watt University impact acceleration fund, which meant that we could effectively donate the BSL translated videos to Police Scotland to use.
"Collaborative research and evidence-based development of these kinds of resources for the Scottish BSL using deaf community is important to ensure that deaf people who report domestic abuse have equitable access to information, services and support, and that BSL interpreters are well equipped to meet the needs of deaf BSL users in this context.”
These videos are available now and can be accessed on the Police Scotland website. These videos will provide the BSL communities with crucial information that can support anyone experiencing or anyone who knows someone who is experiencing domestic abuse.
The BSL domestic abuse glossary – by Justisigns2. Heriot-Watt University has developed a BSL glossary of key terms that are used in the UK related to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.
The glossary includes 33 most often used terms.
