British Sign Language LGBTQ+ Glossary developed by UCL researchers

The project team, which consisted of Dr Kate Rowley, Dr Patrick Rosenburg, Dr Tyron Woolfe and Calum Medlock (UCL Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre), worked closely with the charity Deaf Rainbow UK to propose over 109 words for development into BSL, so that the language can catch up with how much vocabulary has changed among the hearing community.

The 20 words and phrases that were developed were: Ally, Attraction, Bicurious, Bisexual, Cisgender, Gay, Gender, Lesbian, Monogamy, Open Relationship, Panromantic, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Questioning, Sexuality, Sexually Fluid, Straight, Throuple, Transman and Transwoman. 

The project group consulted with Deaf and LGBTQ+ focus groups and the proposed signs were shared with the Deaf LGBTQ+ community at UCL for feedback. 

Once refined, the 20 words and phrases were launched on the Deaf Rainbow UK website, with videos demonstrating the individual signs. An evening of Deaf Drag Bingo (using the new signs and not numbers) followed to celebrate the launch.  

Dr Rosenburg described the impact an inclusive British Sign Language can have for Deaf LGBTQ+ people. He explained how developing the right vocabulary can allow Deaf LGBTQ+ people to engage more easily with others, helping to better understand themselves and their community. 

Like with spoken language, the signs are not considered ‘official’ until they are widely used. At this point they may be added to an official dictionary. 

Speaking on Access All, Dr Patrick Rosenburg said: “The thing about language planning and using new vocabulary is that you can’t force people to adopt this. Language has to evolve organically. So, you can have language planning strategies to create new signs, but there’s no guarantee those signs will be taken up positively by the community.” 

Links: 

• Dr Kate Rowley’s academic profile 
• Dr Patrick Rosenburg’s academic profile 
• Dr Tyron Woolfe’s academic profile 
• Calum Medlock’s academic profile 
• UCL Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre 
• UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences 
• UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences 
• BBC Access All: Disability News and Mental Health (from 2 min, 26 sec) 
• LGBTIQA+ BSL Glossary  
• UCL’s LGBTQ+ Equality Implementation Group (LEIG)  

Images: 

• Top: Launch of LGBTQ+ BSL Glossary (credit: DCAL) 
• Bottom: Launch of LGBTQ+ BSL Glossary (credit: DCAL)