Government boosts opportunity for Deaf people with refreshed BSL Advisory Board

New co-chair of BSL Advisory Board announced
Current co-chair Craig Crawley ends his term and government thank him for his work
New members appointed to help break down barriers to opportunity

Dr Joanna Atkinson has been appointed the new co-chair. She brings a breadth of experience as a psychologist working in the NHS as well as in mental health, educational and medicolegal settings with deaf BSL users.

The new board held its first meeting on 4 December 2025. They will look to continue and build on the work the previous members started, as well as identifying new opportunities to influence the government on issues that face Deaf people.

Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms MP, said:

The BSL Advisory Board is crucial in bridging the gap between the government and the Deaf community and provides valuable advice.

I am grateful to the board’s outgoing members and to Craig, for their hard work and dedication to removing barriers faced by BSL users.

I look forward to working with new and continuing members to boost opportunities for Deaf and disabled people.

The BSL Advisory Board is part of the UK government’s commitment to putting the views and voices of Deaf and disabled people at the heart of its work.

It is central to our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. It also ensures the Deaf community has a say on the issues that matter most to them, including education, health and social care, technology, and Deafblindness.

A recent success of the BSL Advisory Board was the publication of their health and social care report. This was accompanied by a launch event in Parliament, attended by the Minister of State for Social Security and Disability, and the Minister for Health Innovation and Safety.

The report was developed with over 60 Deaf organisations, professionals, academics and frontline health and social care staff. Its aim is to better understand the range of experiences and barriers faced by the Deaf community.

The government is working hard to build on the foundations set by the BSL Act 2022. This requires ministerial departments to publish a report every 3 years to show how they have promoted the use of BSL in their communications.

This year, each department was also asked to produce a 5-year BSL Plan, setting out how they plan to improve the use of BSL within their departments. For many this includes increasing awareness of BSL across their departments. These plans were published by each department alongside the third BSL report.

The government is also committed to:

making the right to equal pay effective for disabled people and people from ethnic minorities
introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers

These measures will be part of the upcoming draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. The bill aims to make workplaces more inclusive while supporting recruitment, retention and progression that enhances opportunity and improves lives.