
Deaf Action is a deaf-led charity that has supported deaf people for over 185 years. Our mission is to empower deaf people to achieve their potential and participate in society with equality of rights, access and opportunity. We do this by providing a range of services to reduce inequalities and remove barriers – including BSL and Lipreading courses, Awareness Training, Translation and Interpreting services, specialist equipment, Wellbeing services, Employability and Digital Skills and our youth club.
For Deaf people, British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation is essential for accessing services such as housing, healthcare, benefits, education, and employment. Through the Scottish Government CivTech programme, which brings together the public, private and third sectors to build things that make peoples’ lives better, Deaf Action received funding to develop an app – SignPort – to transform the system for booking BSL interpreters. The current system often involves a lengthy and convoluted chain of emails between multiple parties, and it can take over a week to finalise arrangements.
Inefficient booking processes, along with interpreter shortage, create significant inequalities for Deaf people. These include:
- Lower uptake of disability benefits due to lack of knowledge and understanding
- Difficulty accessing financial, debt and housing advice
- Children having to interpret for their parents in critical medical situations, including delivering life-changing diagnoses.
- Missed appointments for health services because of uncertainties around interpreter availability and lack of choice in aspects such as gender of the interpreter
- 45% of deaf people currently visiting their GP practice in person to book an appointment
- Deaf people also face significant healthcare inequalities, such as higher rates of undiagnosed and untreated conditions like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, made worse by communication difficulties.
SignPort will offer a mobile app for deaf users and interpreters, and a web platform for public authorities.
It will hold a register of registered BSL interpreters who will be able to respond to a request for a new booking within seconds. The deaf person can select their interpreter who may be someone they have worked before and have built a rapport. SignPort also has a secure video chat function that will enable communication between the deaf person and the interpreter to provide details around the type of appointment and any information can be uploaded to the app in advance. This feature will be very important in preparation for more sensitive appointments such as mental health or addiction support appointments, which currently experience high rates of non-attendance.
Another factor that creates inequalities is that many public service professionals do not know how to book an interpreter. SignPort will change this due to its easy user-friendly interface.
SignPort will launch in 2025 and operate as a social enterprise. We will work to make it self-sustaining by its second year of operation, with profits reinvested into the BSL sector to support the training of new interpreters. By simplifying the process of booking an interpreter, reducing delays, preventing missed appointments, and optimising interpreters’ time, SignPort has the potential to impact significantly on health and wider inequalities currently experienced by the deaf community.
Bernadette Monaghan is Head of Development at Deaf Action.