British Sign Language
British Sign Language (BSL) is a vibrant and important language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary. Many Scottish citizens use this language to participate and contribute to our communities, our culture, and our economy. For many deaf and deafblind people in Scotland, BSL is their first language.
Scotland holds a significant place in the rich culture and history of BSL. Moray House at the University of Edinburgh was one of three institutions in the UK that confirmed BSL is a language, and the name ‘British Sign Language’ was first published from Moray House in 1975.
Our ambition is to make Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn.
Contact Scotland BSL
We fund the Contact Scotland BSL online interpreting Video Relay Service. The service enables Deaf and Deafblind BSL users to telephone, via video relay interpreters, numbers, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
We are retendering for a new free national service for BSL users in Scotland in 2025.
To make sure this new service works best for BSL users, we want to understand how you use any current Video Relay Service and what you would like to see from a future service.
The British Deaf Association Scotland have organised in-person events for BSL users at deaf clubs across Scotland in February and March 2025 for you to attend to provide feedback. The British Deaf Association Scotland will also host two online Zoom events. You can find information on dates, locations and how to join the events on the British Deaf Association Scotland Facebook page.
You can also share your views by:
- completing our online survey for BSL users (in English)
- viewing the questions in BSL on the Scottish Government YouTube channel and emailing us (DOBS@gov.scot) to send a video response in BSL or written response
We would also like feedback from organisations using services, such as VRS, to engage with BSL users and would encourage you to complete our dedicated online survey for organisations.
British Sign Language (BSL): national plan
We worked with Deaf communities across Scotland to develop and publish the British Sign Language (BSL): national plan 2023 to 2029 in November 2023.
The plan sets out the steps we will take between 2023 and 2029 to achieve our overall vision: to make Scotland the best place in the world to live, work and visit for people whose first or preferred language is BSL.
Developing the BSL national plan 2023 to 2029
We ran a consultation on a national plan for BSL in 2023 and published an analysis of consultation responses in December 2023.
This plan leads on from the first BSL national plan 2017-2023 and reflects the further priorities we have identified based on discussions with the BSL community and the organisations representing them.
BSL Implementation Advisory Group
The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 came into force in October 2015. It promotes the use of BSL in Scotland, primarily by requiring certain authorities to develop BSL plans that outline how they will promote and raise awareness of the language. Listed authorities including local authorities, territorial NHS boards and universities and colleges were required to publish their own BSL plans within six months of the publication of the 2023-2029 BSL National Plan as per the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015.
We set up a BSL Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) to monitor and support the delivery of the national plan. The IAG is made up of key organisations that work with, and support Deaf BSL users in Scotland:
- British Deaf Association Scotland
- Deaf Action
- National Deaf Children’s Society
- Deafblind Scotland
- Scottish Minority Ethnic Deaf Charity (SEMDC)
- ALLIANCE Scotland
We also support groups such as the British Deaf Association, Deafblind Scotland, and Scottish Minority Ethnic Deaf Charity through the Equality and Human Rights Fund.