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March 19, 2003
Sign language wins official recognition
From: Daily Telegraph, UK - 19 Mar 2003
By Sarah Womack
British Sign Language has been recognised by the Government as an official language for the first time.
The move, backed by a £1 million investment, is a victory for campaigners who argued that if it acknowledged Gaelic and Welsh it ought to recognise BSL.
Susan Daniels, of the National Deaf Children's Society, said the announcement could lead to BSL having equal value as spoken English and result in GCSEs and A-levels in sign language.
The visual-gestural language with its own vocabulary and grammar is the preferred language for 70,000 deaf people in Britain.
Dr John Low, of the Royal National Institute for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People, said: "This will lead to extra funding to support deaf people's communication needs."
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.
