Latest news with #BSL
South Wales Argus
2 hours ago
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
Proposed BSL Act in Wales risks increasing isolation
Despite claims that this legislation is necessary to support deaf Welsh sign language users, the evidence suggests otherwise. Only 1 per cent of deaf BSL users in the UK are qualified in BSL (BDA-based statistics), highlighting a significant gap between those who could benefit from support and those who can access it. Additionally, there are approximately 300,000 people with hearing loss in Wales (RNID Cymru statistics), many of whom may receive no benefit or inclusion from this Act. The legislation's restrictions limit support solely to individuals who sign or are willing to learn BSL. This approach risks discriminating against deaf individuals who may use, or prefer alternative communication methods, thereby excluding most from essential services. Not every child can acquire sign language. The consultation was buried on the Senedd website, making it virtually impossible for the public to respond meaningfully. The proposed support model relies heavily on tiered approaches supported by single, charity-driven initiatives—essentially, it's a carbon copy of the Act proposed in other UK regions. The Act overlooks all aspects of Welsh language, needs, and opposes English grammar. Mr. Isherwood provided no relevant statistical data specific to Wales to demonstrate the Act's potential effectiveness. The Act appears to be aimed solely at bolstering charitable organisations' funding and employment, rather than genuinely improving support for deaf people. Wales has no deaf school, no BSL curriculum, and teachers are not being trained due to disagreement between BSL purists and educational mainstream inclusion approaches. Mr. Isherwood's proposal offers little benefit to deaf children as it stands, until some agreement shows itself. Currently, it's impossible to fill a class with deaf children to make deaf schools viable. He failed to do his homework; his input seems influenced by vested charitable interests, which themselves are not inclusive. Welsh support in health and social care is above the UK average for BSL users. The culture minister in the Senedd has already described the BSL Act as an unnecessary distraction from deaf inclusion. Support for the majority of those with hearing loss is urgently needed. Six out of seven health boards and two out of three trusts fail to provide adequate alternatives to BSL support. Patients are offered support that they cannot use. The legislation appears driven by a desire to integrate deafness into mainstream settings but faces strong opposition from cultural deaf activists who argue it undermines deaf identity, language, and independence. Rather than promoting inclusion, the Act risks fostering isolation—a factor that historically contributed to the closure of deaf schools and instances of abuse within such settings. The campaign for a Welsh BSL Act is not truly Welsh-led; it largely contains proposals from Scotland and England, driven by the British Deaf Association, with minimal grassroots Welsh support and limited consultation with local deaf communities. Mr. Isherwood relies on English and Scottish data to justify enacting a Welsh BSL Act. This one-size-fits-all approach is inappropriate. Enacting legislation in Wales without considering Welsh-specific needs would be ineffective, potentially discriminatory, and could increase isolation. The focus should instead be on developing inclusive, evidence-based support systems that respect the diversity within the deaf community—rather than legislation driven by external organisations with limited local backing. Yours sincerely, Mervyn James, Newport
Bloomberg
10 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
How Has Your Leveraged Loan CLO Portfolio Been Navigating Through the Tariff Storms?
Join us for an in-depth webinar on how U.S. and European Broadly Syndicated Loan (BSL) CLO portfolios are weathering the renewed volatility stemming from recent tariff threats. With the April announcements of intended tariff hikes by former President Trump, sectors like automobiles, retail, building & materials and environmental services, that are components in many CLO portfolios, face heightened systemic risk. Our expert Bloomberg/Kanerai speakers will provide insights regarding how these external shocks are affecting CLO fundamentals, including portfolio credit quality and market pricing sentiment. We'll explore how CLO managers have adapted whether through tactical portfolio rebalancing, such as de-risking CCC exposure or rotating out of tariff-sensitive loans and what these moves signal about portfolio resilience and future performance. Additionally, we'll showcase Bloomberg's suite of powerful analytical tools such as BVAL , CPR , MV , and BCLO —that can help investors assess fundamental performance across their CLO exposures as well as monitor individual bond price movements. Speakers Reto Bachmann Structured Finance Strategist Bloomberg Intelligence Connor Buttner Managing Director, Client Success Kanerai Connor Buttner, a Managing Director and Head of the Client Success at KANERAI, has more than a decade of experience working with clients to deliver financial technology solutions. At KANERAI, working with industry-leading buy-side and sell-side market participants in the structured credit market, Connor has helped enable clients with innovative custom solutions as well as implement KANERAI's turn-key analytics platforms, including KANERAI's suite of web-based and Excel-based interactive analytics, APIs, and portfolio optimization solutions. Prior to joining KANERAI, Connor was a credit product specialist at Moody's, where he focused on corporate credit and quantitative default tools for financial institutions throughout North America. Giuseppe Trimarchi Managing Director, Enterprise Solutions Kanerai Giuseppe Trimarchi is a Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Solutions at KANERAI. As a seasoned professional with almost 20 years of banking and fintech experience, Giuseppe is known for driving brand growth, maximizing product and business expansion. He most recently served as Chief Operating Officer and member of the founding team at Athena Art Finance, a Carlyle portfolio company and leading provider of alternative asset based lending. Prior to his experience at Athena, Giuseppe held many leadership positions in the Enterprise Data Solution division at Bloomberg LP, most recently as the Global Head of Real Time Content. Giuseppe holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a M.S in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
How discovering deaf culture can be an enriching experience
Something very striking is how enriching hearing people find it when they start to discover deaf culture. That can be the distinctiveness of its humour, the perspectives of people who experience the world differently, or the vitality of British Sign Language (BSL). There's also immense creative talent in the deaf community, something that's all too often squandered through lack of opportunity. Too many highly skilled deaf people are still being overlooked. In the arts world, there are signs of change. Last year Shakespeare's Globe in London staged a production of Antony and Cleopatra in which the Romans spoke English and the Egyptians performed in BSL. I was cast as Cleopatra and was impressed by the commitment of the theatre and the response of the audience. The use of BSL and English-speaking actors was a positive – powerfully emphasising Roman incomprehension of another culture. We need to get away from the situation where deaf people are limited by other people's perceptions of what we can or can't do. Deaf creatives and creativity should be woven into the fabric of the arts. That's exactly what events like the Edinburgh Deaf Festival are helping to do. It provides platforms for deaf drama, comedy, drag, film, music, poetry and discussion. This caters for the deaf community and welcomes hearing audiences as well. It's about deaf people having agency; taking control of our narrative and expressing it how we want to. It's about ownership, pride, and representation from within the deaf community. The festival is also working with the [[Edinburgh]] Fringe, the International Festival, the Book Festival, [[Edinburgh]] Art Festival and specific venues like Summerhall, both to stage deaf-led events and to make their programmes more accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It's a relief to write about the things we are doing. Last year, the future of the festival was at risk. Despite the festival's development, growth and success it faced a severe funding crisis. A vigorous campaign was mounted to point out that the loss of the [[Edinburgh]] Deaf Festival would be completely at odds with the Scottish Government's commitment to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn. We now have a three-year funding deal with Creative Scotland that's allowing us to be more bold and ambitious for the future. It's something that Scotland should be proud of. Edinburgh, and the whole country, have played a vital role in the emergence of deaf culture and the establishment of deaf rights. This is exemplified by the fact that festival organisers, the Edinburgh-based Deaf Action, is the oldest deaf-led charity in the world and this year celebrates 190 years of campaigning for our community. The festival is a powerful way to improve the lives of deaf people and celebrate deaf culture, giving hearing people greater access to our world. • The festival is from August 8-17. Nadia Nadarajah is the Creative Programmer of the 2025 Edinburgh Deaf Festival Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@
Leader Live
2 days ago
- Health
- Leader Live
North Wales MS Mark Isherwood introduces Sign Language Bill
As I said 'too often, Deaf people are unable to access vital public services because they cannot communicate in their first language. This denies them their rights, and places them at a significant disadvantage - whether in healthcare, education, employment, transport, or otherwise. The Bill aims to address this by introducing a legal requirement to promote and facilitate the use of BSL in Wales'. If passed, this will be the most progressive BSL law in the UK. BBC Radio Wales also interviewed me about my Bill. Questioning the First Minister, I spoke of the substantial sum of Shared Prosperity Funding allocated to communities throughout North Wales by the previous UK Government, and said it is vital that changes to the way this funding is allocated by the current Labour UK Government do not result in North Wales losing out. Questioning the Health Secretary about the temporary closure of St David's Hospice's in-patient beds in Holyhead, I highlighted the financial difficulties Hospices throughout Wales are facing, and their need for support to deliver more for individuals, families and the NHS. Speaking in the Debate on 'the Wales COVID-19 Inquiry Special Purpose Committee Report' as Chair of the Senedd's Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee, I said that the Committee have agreed to lead the scrutiny of gaps identified by the soon to be disbanded Wales COVID-19 Inquiry Special Purpose Committee in relation to the UK Inquiry Module 1 'to ensure that some scrutiny of these important matters is done within this Senedd, rather than none'. Meetings included Cross-Party Group for Funerals and Bereavement, at which I was re-elected as its Chair; Cross-Party Groups on Diabetes and on Dementia; Autism support Charity 'Your Space Marches' AGM; Bipolar UK; counsellor training provider Chrysalis, to discuss how qualified counsellors can support local mental health objectives; and 'STAND North Wales' (Stronger Together for Additional Needs and Disabilities), regarding their Petition to the Welsh Parliament Petitions Committee, 'Make Blue badge Applications Lifelong for individuals who have a lifelong diagnosis'. Engagements included UK Covid Inquiry Special Briefing by Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru; Jonathan's House (a sanctuary for men after experiencing abuse); and the Senedd's Y Farchnad, where I visited Welsh NHS Confederation, Competition and Markets Authority, Two Rhythms, Royal Mail, Welsh Cross Party Group on Beer and Pubs, Wales & West Utilities, Severe ME Difrifol Cymru, and BookTrust Cymru. For help, email or call 0300 200 7219.
Western Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Western Telegraph
Senedd cross-party support for backbench sign language bill
Mark Isherwood formally introduced his British Sign Language (BSL) bill in the Senedd on July 16, nearly seven years after calls were first made for legislation in Wales. Mr Isherwood, a disability rights campaigner for decades, explained the bill would introduce legal requirements to promote and facilitate the use of BSL in Wales. He warned: 'Too often, deaf people are unable to access vital public services because they cannot communicate in their first language. 'This denies them their rights and places them at a significant disadvantage – whether in health care, education, employment, transport or otherwise." He told the Senedd: 'BSL plays a crucial role in enabling communication and promoting inclusivity in everyday life – for many deaf individuals, BSL is their primary language. 'Deaf BSL signers in Wales cannot access services in their first language and this is unacceptable. As one individual undergoing major surgery shared 'throughout the whole time, I did not understand anything'.' He added: 'If passed, therefore, this will be the most progressive BSL law in the UK.' Jane Hutt welcomed and supported the bill on behalf of the Welsh Government, which recognised BSL as a language more than 20 years ago in 2004. Wales' social justice secretary, who has worked with Mr Isherwood on developing the proposed legislation, described the bill as a step towards lasting change. The backbench bill would be the first passed by the Senedd in a decade, with bills on mental health, food, education, autism and older people's rights rejected or withdrawn in that time. Concerns have been raised about the Senedd's capacity for legislation brought forward by backbench members who are not a part of the Welsh Government. The BSL bill, as an example, was accompanied by a 113-page explanation and impact assessment. If passed, it would be a first since Liberal Democrat Kirsty Williams introduced a bill on safe nurse staffing levels in 2014, which became law two years later. Labour's Jenny Rathbone chairs the Senedd's equality committee, which she said had 'cleared the decks' to focus on seeing the BSL bill become an Act by May 2026.
