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Sign Language Week 2024
18/03/2024 00:00, In Blog /
This week we are celebrating Sign Language Week (18 - 24 March 2024). Sign Language Week is organised by the British Deaf Association and is held on the anniversary of when British Sign Language (BSL) was recognised as a language by the British Government in March 2003.
As of June 2022, BSL is now a legal language in the UK alongside English, Welsh, and Gaelic. The theme for this year's Sign Language Week is ‘Promoting BSL’ and as part of this, Welsh Athletics wanted to create a series of short videos and resources that include athletic-specific BSL to promote BSL across our sport.
Libby, our Inclusion and Engagement Coordinator, who is currently doing her Level 4 British Sign Language qualification, met with elite athlete Harrison Walsh to teach him some different throwing, jumping, running, and general athletics signs and terminology. These videos will be released across our social media channels throughout the week so go and give them a watch and see what you can learn!
To give you a taste, here is a fun video of Libby teaching Harrison some general athletics signs - why not give them a go!
We hope that these videos and resources encourage you to learn some BSL. Whether you are an athlete, an official, a volunteer or a coach, we can all play our part towards the inclusion of the deaf community across athletics.
Watch this space for more Welsh Athletics BSL resources available on our socials.
#SignLanguageWeek #PromoteBSL